Dux Homunculorum

More Viking Warriors

2012-02-14T22:12:00.000-08:00

This week, I will be mostly...finishing some Vikings.

This is 1 point worth of warriors for Saga, which means that I now have a 6 point Viking warband (one of my goals for the year!)

Figures are from Artizan Designs, and very nice they are too. I used my new discovery of water based 'dip' on these. As with Army Painter, I would never in a pink fit actually dip them - the stain/varnish is brushed on, then top coated with Vallejo matt varnish.

An Alternative to Army Painter

2012-02-09T02:29:00.000-08:00

I have been using Army Painter Quickshade 'dip' over the past year or so. In an ideal world I wouldn't, as I would much prefer to carefully shade my figures blah blah, but the realities of busy life at the moment means that a product that can shade and varnish does save me time.

Being used to working with acrylics though, I don't enjoy the fumes of the solvent-based Quickshade, and have often thought that there must be some sort of equivalent water-based product. Over the past month my tin of Quickshade has steadily been turning into a lumpy, thick disgusting mess, so I got myself down to Bunnings (a chain of hardware stores here in Australia) to find an alternative.

Here's what I'm trying out. It's a water-based polyurethane varnish with stain in it, made by Cabots. There are various shades of stain, and it is available in satin and gloss. I bought the walnut stain in satin.

To start with, the Cabots varnish cost about $25 for half a litre, as opposed to around $40-50 for 250ml of Quickshade. You do the maths.

Here's a comparison of the shade. The figure on the left has Quickshade Strong Tone applied with a brush, the one on the left has Cabots, also brushed on. I can't tell the difference.

Here's a figure after being painted with the Cabot's varnish, with a top coat of Vallejo matt varnish, and before highlighting.

Vedict? The water based stain from Cabots didn't smell, brushed on more easily than Quickshade, seems to do the same job of shading and is a quarter the cost. It may be that the polyurethane varnish doesn't form as strong a coating on the figure as the solvent-based Quickshade, but that's the only possible advantage I can think of for using it.

I would be interested if anyone knows whether the Quickshade is stronger. I tried a bit of scraping at the figures with my fingernail and a knife, but didn't notice much difference.

One dark night in Poland....

2012-02-04T18:45:00.001-08:00

Poland 1938...

An archaeological expedition from Cambridge is just finishing up for the day after a day surveying their new dig - an ancient burial mound.

Meanwhile, the members of a strange cult are donning their robes and, in one case, strapping on a flamethrower. Heretics are planning to despoil the burial place sacred to their cult, and they must all die. Preferably in flames.

But there are others in the woods this evening. Clearly soldiers, but of what nation? Does their presence have anything to do with the disappearance of three members of a farming family the previous week?

This was the set up for a pulp adventures game I played a week or so ago, involving the Duchess, the young Princess and our good friend Antonius, all of whom graciously agreed to play a game even though it isn't really their thing. The basic rules were Fear and Faith from Ganesha Games, the figures the pulp adventurers from Artizan Designs I've been painting up. I gave each of the three players specific victory conditions - eg the archaeologists just needed to escape, the cultists got points for killing them etc. Unbeknownst to them there was also a fourth group: werewolves controlled by me, who entered the game at a predetermined time and a randomly determined position.

Although we didn't finish the game it was a lot of fun. The archaeologists were hampered by a number of slow-moving elderly members of their party, but promptly left them behind while the sprightly ones ran for the board edge. Unluckily for them they ran straight into the werewolves when they appeared on the board, with predictably gruesome results.

The Fear and Faith mechanics work well, and certainly give a fun scenario-driven game.

Covenanter Lancers WIP

2012-02-03T19:23:00.000-08:00

Well, term has begun, so the halcyon days of staying up really really late painting minis are over for a while... Despite this, I managed to chip away at some 1/72 Covenanter lancers this week. The figures are from Tumbling Dice, originally wielding pistols or swords, but converted to hold lances made from broom bristles. The armoured geezer will be carrying a flag, after I buy a new colour cartridge for the printer.

They're not beautiful, but they'll do the job.

Viking Reinforcements!

2012-01-26T19:53:00.001-08:00

Just finished this unit of 12 bowmen for my Saga Viking warband. The figures are Wargames Factory plastics - not my favourite figures in the world, but they do come with bows, and I already had a box lying around.

It is a very bright day here, so apologies if the photos look a bit washed out.

The Return of 1/72 scale ECW...

2012-01-22T16:32:00.000-08:00

There has been a lot of muttering from the Homunculi recently about the way I have neglected The One True Scale of 1/72. 'Airs and bleedin' graces' I've heard them say - 'jumping on the bleedin' 28mm bandwagon, Saga this, Saga that...' The discontent has naturally been most felt amongst the unpainted 1/72 brethren.

To keep the little blighters happy I have started on one of the big projects for 2012 - reorganising, rebasing and preparing more figures for 1/72 ECW, using Basic Impetus Baroque rules. I had some unpainted pikemen from Tumbling Dice lying around, so started with them. Nice figures - a bit chunky and 'wargamey', but dead easy to paint. These lads will join a Covenanter regiment. Truth be known they are probably too well armoured for Covenanters, but the priority at the moment is to just get some figures on the table and have some games. And to keep the Homunculi happy, of course.

Svein and the Lads

2012-01-21T20:12:00.000-08:00

Latest off the assembly line are the Gripping Beast figures of Svein Forkbeard and four huscarls with Danish axes. I finished Svein a while back to be honest, but finally got around to finishing the base. Great figure - really looks like he has the St Brice's Day massacre at the forefront of his mind!

Saga Battle Report - Or, How Owain the Prudent Lived to Fight Another Day

2012-01-18T18:56:00.000-08:00

Playing Paul the Galloglaigh on Tuesday night with my Welsh for the first time really made me appreciate the subtlety of tactics possible in Saga. Gosh it's a good game! We each fielded a 4-point warband, with paul using Vikings against my Welsh. Critically, he didn't have any missile troops, so really needed to use the Vikings' ability to counteract fatigue to get into action with my troops as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me, but I have reconstructed the final move of the game below, mainly for gloating purposes. Although the following reconstruction is based on real events, the parts are all played by professional actors, and no miniature was harmed in the reconstruction of these events.

We were playing the Clash of Warlords scenario, with victory going to the first player to kill the opposing warlord.

Things didn't start well for the Vikings, who lost their berserkers early on to a shower of javelins. Paul was desperate to finish things, and I gave him the perfect opportunity in the penultimate turn, leaving my warlord and two surviving teulu retainers deliberately within charge range of his warlord and accompanying five warriors.

View from behind the Welsh lines. That's my warlord over on the right flank with his sword held back.

Paul took the bait, loading up his battleboard with dice to maximise his success in melee, then using the Side by Side rule to charge his warlord and warriors into my warlord.

Or at least that's what he planned to do. However, in my turn I left a die on the Hit and Run box, which meant that I could activate and move one of my units at the point Paul activated one of his within Medium distance. I made a bit of an error with the rules, originally planning to activate my exposed warlord and his two hearthguard, but of course I couldn't. So, telling his men that he would have songs composed in their honour, Owain legged it back behind the levies while his two faithful retainers tried to fight the Vikings and their million or so attack dice, with predictable results. The Viking warlord and his warriors were victorious, but they ended their turn horribly exposed.

Not Owain's finest hour, but now it was the Welsh turn and I could spring the trap. I put dice on Children of the Land, Taunting and Strength Lies in Numbers, as well as having one to activate my Priodaur who were on the far side of the swamp. First up I used the Taunting ability, and my Levies promptly made all kinds of gestures and ribald comments to the warriors surrounding the Viking warlord. THe Vikings weren't having this, so activated and charged my levies.

I really wanted to lose that combat, but ended up winning it, so that one surviving Viking fled back to within Very Short distance of the warlord. The bodyguard is heavily depleted - so far so good.

Next I activated the unit of warriors to the left of the swamp. Because of the Children of the Land ability they were able to ignore the movement penalty of the swamp and charge into the Viking Warlord. They all ended up within VS of him, so were going to roll 8 attack dice. However, I also had the Strength in Numbers ability, so I gained an extra die for every figure by which I outnumbered my opponent, giving me a grand total of 15 dice to the warlord's 5.

After rolling for hits and saves, I scored three un-cancelled hits. One of these was taken by the warrior within VS distance of the warlord, one was absorbed by the Warlord's Resilience, but the third hit finished him.

I love it when a plan comes together.

A Golden Hobby Day...

2012-01-18T13:27:00.000-08:00

Just had a great 24 hours of hobbies. On Tuesday night I went over to Paul the Galloglaigh's for a game of Saga, using my Welsh warband for the first time against Vikings. Had great game. The Welsh are brilliant in Saga - there are all kinds of ways of being tricksy using the battleboards. I was able to set a trap for the Vikings that worked perfectly, ending with the Viking warlord dead in a swamp, so chalked up a rare victory against Paul.

The planets aligned on Wednesday, giving me a whole day to devote to making stuff. The Duchess went off to Latin Summer School, I dropped the twins (Assault and Battery) at day care, and Boudicca the Five Year Old is away staying with her grandparents, so I came home, revelled in the silence, made a cup of tea and got to work.

My 'Man Cave' is a couple of boxes that I get out at night when the kids have gone to bed and the dining table, so it was a rare pleasure to be able to make a mess for a whole day.

First up, I finished four werewolves from West Wind Productions for Pulp Adventures.

Next, I made five terrain boards.

These took some time, but I was able to make a start on turning a Revell Viking ship into a waterline model. You can see it on the table, looking to the untrained eye a lot like a lovely kit in the process of being ruined. Anyway, I hacked off the bottom with a saw, but I need to get some sandpaper. Finally, I made a start on some Anglo-Danish hearthguard, got up to the post office to pick up a Playmobil Viking Ship we got off Ebay, picked up Assault and Battery and even did the vacuuming.

Great day - haven't felt so relaxed in about a year.

Pulp Adventures - the Archaeologists

2012-01-15T18:38:00.000-08:00

What is this English archaeological expedition doing in a gloomy Polish forest in 1937? It looks like they are expecting trouble...

Figures are from Artizan Designs, with three from Copplestone Castings. As you can see, the two ranges match seamlessly. The Copplestone figures are the bluff chap with drawn revolver, the dour veteran with his trusty shotgun and Winfrey Hamilton, incongruously carrying his pith helmet.

Found in their wallets after The Incident were some snapshots of happier times.

A group photo on tour in Rome.

Winfrey Harrington and Lady Snodgrass explore the ruins of Palymyra.

West Wind Productions Welsh Spearmen

2012-01-14T20:23:00.000-08:00

I ordered some Welsh spearmen from the West Wind Productions Arthurian range to flesh out my Welsh for Saga. Unfortunately they don't have images of the figures on their website, so this is just a quick preview of the figures for others who are interested in them.

The figures come as a set of 20 for 19.99GBP, so they are good value. There are four different body types in the pack, shown above with a Gripping Beast plastic Saxon on the left and a Gripping Beast metal Viking on the far right for comparison. The pack also contains shields (of two different types) and five identical sprues, each of four separate heads.

Things to Like
The figures are very cleanly cast with minimal flash, and they will mix in well with Gripping Beast figures. The detail is very good. Proportions and poses are good.

Quibbles
No weapons are supplied. There are only four different bods, and it is a shame that none wear any form of armour. There is no real texture on the reverse of the shields. Like most Welsh figures (eg GB) these chaps have been given breeches, presumably to make them look different to Saxons etc. I don't know that there is any real evidence for them, but they look fine. Like the GB Welsh the West Wind bod on the left of the line has been given a short cloak, although I didn't find it as convincing. The sculptor has rendered it as a short surcoat-like arrangement, secured with a belt, although with no apparent brooch fastening. It is a bit of a shame that only four different heads come in the pack. It would be great if there was more variety, with some helmeted heads. West Wind do make some very nice ones ad part of their Separate Heads System, but you'll need to buy these separately.

Verdict?
These are nice figures that will give some variety to a warband, although will look a bit uniform if used by themselves.

I also ordered some of the West Wind Arthurian personality packs along with these, and they are lovely figures. Perfect for Saga apart from the helmets, which really are more 6-7th century, but you could either replace the heads, or overlook the anachronism and get a head start on your warband when Saga goes Arthurian.

If anybody fancies a swap of 8-12 of these for say, some GB Scots or mounted Welsh or Scots, let me know.

A Very Private Army

2012-01-10T16:00:00.000-08:00

Here's the next little group of figures for 1930s Pulp Adventures. Great War deserters turned mercenaries perhaps? Monster hunters? Clearly they all have a story to tell, and why do some wear items of German uniform?

All the figures are from Artizan Designs. Most of them are from the two 'A Very Private Army' packs they do, although 'The Rev' is from one of their 'Department of Paranormal Affairs' sets. Check out Aetherworks for the full range. These are lovely figures, and heaps of fun to paint. Next up are the archaeologists.

Thanks Will!

2012-01-10T03:41:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks back I put up some images of some Caesar conquistadores I had converted to pikemen for the Italian Wars. I was contacted by Will, who very kindly offered me some surplus pikemen from the Revell conquistadores set. They arrived yesterday, and have joined the painting queue.

So here's a huge thank you to Will!

And now for something completely different...

2012-01-08T03:53:00.000-08:00

In a new and radical departure from my usual historical interests, I'm putting together a bit of a pulp horror type campaign. Partly this is in response to the Duchess and Attila the Teenager playing Zombies with me, and partly a result of enjoying the Song of Blades games so much. Partly it's also just for a bit of fun painting a few different figures. I have some ideas for games involving archaeologists and various nasties in the 1930s using the Fear and Faith rules from Ganesha Games.

I ordered a few packs of Artizan Designs and Copplestone figures from Aetherworks, along with some circular mdf bases. I was very impressed with Aetherworks, by the way. I called them up to see what they had in stock, they got back to me straight away, and even dropped the figures and bases in to me to save the postage, since one of the guys lives close by. I hereby bestow upon them a (completely unsolicited) Ducal Endorsement.

First up, here is a bunch of cultists from Artizan Designs. I added a sword to the leader with the spellbook. The cult symbol may give you a clue as the the supernatural creatures they are associated with...any suggestions? The 2nd SS Panzer Division is the incorrect answer, by the way.

These figures are lovely, and a joy to paint. I particularly love the guy with the flamethrower. After all, why wouldn't a group of lunatics in robes decide to bring along a flamethrower?

But there's always one, isn't there? Deciding his nicotine addiction justifies endless breaks while the rest of the cult is busy with their mystic rites?

4 Point Warband for Saga Completed

2012-01-06T20:19:00.000-08:00

I finished the last unit of eight warriors for my Welsh, so I have completed a four point warband for Saga.

Here are the final warriors....

....and the warband all together. I have some extra Welsh on the way from Westwind Productions, and plan to add a couple more units of hearthguard.

It's good to get them done, and well worth celebrating with some traditional Welsh dancing.

Welsh Saga Warband - the Big Boyos

2012-01-06T01:09:00.000-08:00

Here are my first completed figures for 2012 - a unit of four hearthguard and the warlord for my Welsh warband. The warlord is himself with the cross on the white shield. I quite like how these turned out, although the fearsome boar on one shield looks a bit cute.

Making Swamps the Dux Homunculorum Way

2012-01-05T01:00:00.001-08:00

The Duchess and I were having a bit of a clean up of the castle to celebrate the new year, and one of the things that ended up in the bin was this board book of 'In the Night Garden'. It is a lift the flap book, but since the kids have ripped all the flaps off the narrative lacked some of its former suspense and wasn't really something we could give away.

Anyway, it suddenly occurred to me that the thick board pages are probably what I have been looking for to make some terrain elements that don't warping.

I cut a rough shape out of one of the thick pages, painting it with two shades of green (lighter around the edges).

Then I put a layer of army painter strong tone over the top. This worked brilliantly. The brown adds a nice swampy foetid ambience to the whole piece, and it is nicely glossy. The border was just added with sand and PVA glue, then the whole thing finished off with some flock and tufts. Zero warping. Happy Dux.

Thanks Iggle Piggle.

New Year's Resolutions

2012-01-04T00:45:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone. Best wishes for a great 2012.

I'm looking forward to another challenging year of balancing a demanding job with looking after a teenager, a five year old and two-year old twins, so I will both desperately need my hobby and be fighting hard to find time for it. This is an aspirational list of things I would like to do this year. Let's see in 12 months what I've managed to achieve.

Best laid plans (in no particular order):

1. Play more games. Specifically, make it a priority to get to club every 2-3 weeks.
2. Continue to develop the school wargames club.
3. Expand my Anglo-Danish, Welsh and Viking Saga warbands to 6 points each.
4. Make another couple of Saga warbands.
5. Build more Viking age terrain. Specifically, scratchbuild a great hall and at least one longship (probably the Revell one).
6. Make a set of terrain boards.
7. Re-base my 1/72 ECW figures for Baroque Impetus.
8. Paint more 1/72 ECW, particularly for Montrose's army.
9. Paint some 28mm figures for Pulp adventures, using the Song of Blades and Heroes series of games.
10. Paint some more 1/1200 Langton ships for Kiss Me Hardy.
11. Start painting some of the 28mm ECW figures I own.
12. Find a Napoleonic grand tactical set of rules that will inspire me to get back into 1/72 Napoleonics. Perhaps Lasalle?
13. Continue building up some 1/72 Impetus armies for the Italian Wars.
14. Paint a 15mm Antrim Scots force for Irregular Wars.
14. Blog more often!

...and no doubt other things that catch my eye during the year!

Good luck to you all with your hobby plans for the year.

Whimsical Forest Dwellers 0 - Sons of Odin 1

2011-12-29T02:51:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the Duchess looking after the kids for the afternoon I had the rare opportunity today to get a couple of games in with Dr Hotspur.

For our first game, we playtested one of the scenarios from Hotspur's upcoming second edition of his Irregular Wars - a fun set of rules for small actions between 1519 and 1641. The scenario we tried out was the 'Reive and Retrieve' game, setting my Lowland Scots on a sheep stealing raid against Hotspur's Royal English.

Holding off the English horse on their left flank, the Scots make a grab for the livestock.

The game worked well - particularly well for me! Although my force took heavy losses I managed to drive half the English sheep off my end of the board, leaving the Scots survivors full of mutton and the English looking sheepish.

The Scots captain and another company of horse escape with their ovine plunder.

For our second game, we played Song of Blades and Heroes (great game!), setting my Vikings against Pan, a flock of satyrs and a dryad named Phoebe.

Check out the bizarre terrain!

Although Phoebe scored an early success by entangling one of my warriors and setting him up to be finished off by Pan, my hero Harald the Hard Bastard waded in and sorted her out, rapidly dispatching her with a gruesome kill. This unnerved a couple of the satyrs, who ran away, allowing me to concentrate Harald, a berserker and the rest of my warriors against Pan and a satyr with a strong stomach. Despite Olaf the Unsteady being knocked over at one point by Pan, pragmatic Norse steel soon prevailed. Of the satyrs who legged it, one returned just in time to get axed, the sight of which again appalled the survivor to the extent that he took to his little goaty heels. I must confess to feeling a certain amount of guilt about the dryad.

Thanks to Hotspur for a fun afternoon, and for designing a great set of rules in Irregular Wars.

Welsh Levies for Saga

2011-12-28T01:46:00.000-08:00

Here's the next unit completed for my Welsh Saga warband. 12 bow-armed levies from Gripping Beast. Enjoy!

Seasons Greetings

2011-12-23T17:54:00.001-08:00

I am currently away in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, enjoying Christmas with the Duchess' family, so nothing much is happening on the hobby front. But I would like to wish all of you who read my humble blog a very happy and safe Christmas. I have really appreciated all your interest and encouraging comments during the year. It has been a tough year in a lot of ways, and would have been tougher without the sense of community fostered by the Interwebby. In particular, my thoughts go out to the great band of wargamers and hobbyists in Christchurch, who have just endured another earthquake after an already shocking year. Stay safe - I hope you find something to celebrate with loved ones over the next few days, and may 2012 be brighter for you all.

Best wishes from the Dux.

Wargaming the Italian Wars in 1/72 Scale - Spanish Infantry

2011-12-18T20:16:00.000-08:00

This is a project I was working on at the beginning of the year, until other things grabbed my attention.

After painting up some 1/72 Landsknechts and Renaissance Knights from Dark Dream studio (which have already appeared on the blog) I set out to find other figures that could be used for the Italian Wars of the early 16th Century. A more sensible person would look to the many beautiful 28mm or 15mm figures that are available, but I was interested in testing out my ability to convert 1/72 scale figures to fill the lack of Italian Wars stuff in that scale.

So, what did I have to work with? The best resource for making Spanish and Italian infantry and jinetes cavalry are the boxes of Conquistadores from Caesar and Revell. The Revell figures are sadly our of production, although poorly pirated copies of most of the Revell set are available from Mars.

The Caesar figures are quite nice, but there are no pikemen in the set. Lots of pikes are obviously essential for Italian Wars, so I messed around converting sword and buckler-armed Spanish into pikemen. The good news is that the plastic Caesar use is quite soft, and it is easy to carve things like bucklers away with a sharp knife.

Basically, I cut away the swords and bucklers, then twisted the arms of the figures into plausible positions for holding pikes by sticking a pin through their hands. From what I've been able to find out, there was no formalised pike drill in the 1520s, so it is easy to have the pikes in various positions, in contrast to soldiers of the 17th century. To make this easier I cut some slits at points like elbows and armpits. I then dunked the figure into boiling water, while wearing rubber gloves. The Caesar plastic goes instantly very rubbery when you do this. Then I dunked the figures into a bowl of cold water to set them in their new position.

After getting the arms into position, I used greenstuff to fill in gaps at the armpits etc, and also added some variety to the pikemen by giving some of them bases (military skirts) or slashed clothing.

I also changed some of the heads for variety, and particularly had to swap any heads wearing morion helmets. These are incorrect for the 1520s, so I replaced them with more suitable cabassets and even some sallets from a set of 15th century figures from Miniart. The pikes are broom bristles.

Now that I've based them, I'm reasonably happy with how they turned out. They were a lot of work, but it was challenging and fun trying to imagine figures in different poses - not something you can do with metal figures! I might do some more at some stage, but I do wish someone would decide to put out lots of lovely 1/72 figures for this period.

Making Spears and Pikes - the Dux Homunculorum Way

2011-12-17T20:12:00.000-08:00

There has been a bit of discussion over on the Saga forum about how to avoid metal spears breaking and bending on our beloved miniatures. Swords can become ploughshares, but broom bristles can become spears. Here's how:

1. Buy a patio broom. Endure the strange looks you will get in the hardware shop as you gaze closely at the bristles of different brooms, checking them for scale thickness. I bought this one at a local IGA.

2. Inform all your family members that the broom you bring home is absolutely not to be used for sweeping as it is a valuable hobby resource. Rise above the satirical comments directed your way.

3. 'Harvest' the bristles as you need them.

4. Gently squeeze the end of the bristle flat, using flat pliers or suchlike.

5. Use a hobby knife to cut the flattened end into the desired shape.

That's it. You now have a massive supply of flexible plastic rods that can be easily transformed into spears, pikes, arrows, even swords etc with a little care, and they have cost you next to nothing.

Epic Game of Zombies!

2011-12-17T20:04:00.001-08:00

Last Thursday night saw an epic game of Zombies with the Duchess, Duxette and Uncle Antonius. Great game that came down to an unseemly scramble for the helipad when the tile finally came up. It looked like the Duxette was going to win, before Antonius sent her back to the Town Square, where she sulked for the final turns. Still anybody's game, Antonius finally made it to the finish line. None of this will make any sense to you if you haven't played Zombies! , but it is a fun 'beer and pretzels' sort of game, enhanced by making zombie noises.

Saga Welsh Warband

2011-12-14T16:31:00.000-08:00

Here is the first unit of 8 warriors for my Welsh Saga warband. All figures are from Gripping Beast.

The Danish perspective...

Montrose Irish Brigade in 1/72 Scale

2011-12-08T17:20:00.000-08:00

These are some experimental figures I did up some time ago to see whether it was feasible to make Montrose's Irish in 1/72 scale. The figures are mainly conversions from A Call to Arms Parliamentarian and Royalist infantry, although the well-fed ensign is a Tumbling Dice Covenanter. The Beautiful flag is from the talented chaps at the Project Auldearn blog. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, and it is tempting to do some more work on the 1/72 ECW project. But then again, those 28mm ECW figures do look nice. Either way (or both!) ECW will hopefully be a big focus for 2012, along with more dark ages stuff and 1/72 Napoleonics for Lasalle.

A Rant About an Awful Movie

2011-12-03T19:02:00.000-08:00

Last night the Duchess and I curled up on the sofa with a big bowl of Eton mess to watch The Eagle, the 2011 movie version of Roseary Sutcliff's novel The Eagle of the Ninth, starring Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell.

Now, to put my reaction in context, The Eagle of the Ninth was one of the best things that ever happened to me as a young Dux. I was completely transported back to the world of the Roman Empire by the book, and by the old TV series that annoyingly has never been released on DVD. It is no exaggeration to say that it, and other books by Rosemary Sutcliff such as Frontier Wolf probably shaped my love of history, and thus the whole direction of my personal and professional life. It is a great regret of mine that I never wrote to Sutcliff before her death to tell her how much her books meant to me.

So, obviously any film was going to have to work hard to meet such powerful childhood associations. Nevertheless, I'd like to think that the Dux is a magnanimous viewer, happy to take a film on its own merits. For example, I largely liked the movie Centurion, which owed an obvious debt to Sutcliff's novels. And there were certainly things to like in The Eagle. The first half hour certainly evoked something of the isolation of a Roman frontier fort and the professionalism of the Roman army. Much of the photography was beautiful.

But here's the thing. I understand that anyone writing a screenplay needs to simplify novels to make them work as a film. Heck - Peter Jackson's The Two Towers arguably improved aspects of Tolkein's story. What I fail to understand is why anyone would wantonly stuff around with aspects of a story for no apparent reason other than to make the story more stupid and illogical. For example, in Sutcliff's novel, Marcus Aquila heads off North of Hadrian's Wall to find the eagle of his father's legion disguised as a travelling Greek eye doctor. This makes sense - it explains his foreigness in the eyes of the Picts he and his slave Esca meet, it allows him to travel widely and makes him valuable to the peoples he meets. This would hardly have been difficult to include in the film, but instead we just have Esca insisting on doing all the talking, while Marcus sits on his horse in the background looking Roman. As the Duchess asked, what on earth was Esca saying in all these encounters with random Picts? Presumably something like 'oi mate, we're looking for a Roman legion that disappeared here about 20 years ago. Have you seen it at all? No? Ok, thanks anyway. Romans? Us? No, no.' Ultimately of course we find out that Esca knew all about the site of the last stand of the Ninth Legion because his people, the Brigantes, implausibly travelled the length of Britain to take part in it. In fairness, I will point out that the overgrown battlefield they find with fragments of skeletons looked fantastic.

But enough of being fair. When they finally met the Seal People who buggered off with the Legion's Eagle, I nearly choked on my Eton Mess. What were the costume people thinking? Actually, the probably drunken meeting where they decided what they should look like is all too easy to reconstruct. 'In the book they're called the Seal People, yeah? Seals are, what, grey and that? So how about they have grey skin, you know, like seals? And because they are supposed to be dead hard, lets make them look like punks with mohawks. Actually, I saw Last of the Mohicans last week. How about we make them look like the Hurons or whatever from that, but grey, and wearing skulls on top of their heads. And camouflage jackets. Yeah, why not? Another pint? Go on then, I've only had eight.'

As bizarre as this was, the butchery the screenwriter made of the climax to the film eclipsed even whatever the Seal People did to the Ninth Legion. As Esca and Marcus escape with the Eagle, Marcus is finally unable to go on. Not to worry, Esca heads off and returns with a bunch of beardy old Roman survivors from the Ninth Legion, who fortunately have all kept their Roman shields and armour, so they can all give up their lives at last defending the Legion's Eagle and regain their lost honour. In the book, the chase reaches an altogether more satisfying and plausible climax as Marcus and Esca defend an abandoned watchtower. In the final, rushed, scene of the film, the two men, now friends, present the procurator of Britain with the Eagle, and he effectively promises Marcus that the legion will be reformed and he'll be given command of it! The conclusion to the book, which I won't give away, is infinitely superior.

Anyway, end of rant. I think I will read the book again as a form of ritual cleansing. As though having George Lucas to contend with wasn't enough.

100 Followers!

2011-12-02T18:28:00.000-08:00

Thank you to everyone who follows my humble blog. There are now 100 of you! Who would have thought, 20 years ago, that we would be able to share our niche hobbies with friends all around the world. I hugely enjoy seeing the inspiring work you all do. A special hello to my visitors from Slovenia, where my blog seems to be strangely popular.

In view of this momentous occasion the homunculi threw a little party (shown above), and asked me to pass on their thanks as well.

Dark Ages Fort - Finished

2011-11-27T01:44:00.000-08:00

I've petty much finished the fort I've been working on over the past couple of weeks for use with Saga. I sprayed the board with Tamiya Dark Earth, with a light overspray of Tan to tone it down a bit. The palisade was painted with some craft acrylics in various shades of grey and brown. I had originally planned to put a stain wash over it, but decided it didn't need it.

Following the suggestion of Paul at THe Man Cave I added a suggestion of planking on the rampart, just made with strips cut from a cereal packet.

Overall I'm pretty happy with it, although at some stage I may add something to the interior of the rampart - maybe timber supports or even cover it with flock. It looks a bit bare at the moment. I'm going to build a great hall for my warlord to fit inside the fort, but might paint some more figures first. Next time I'll also do a better job of trying to stop the board warping.

I played a game of Saga with a friend last Thursday night using the fort - came up with a scenario with special rules for breaking down the gate etc. I enjoyed myself, but I think my mate missed the usual elves and pixies he tends to game with.

Viking Fort Work in Progress-Part 2

2011-11-14T03:07:00.000-08:00

Thanks for all the nice comments about my Viking fort so far. I have been steadily chipping away, and finally finished the palisade. I followed Rodger's advice and painted the reverse side of the MDF base with water to try to improve the warping problem. Certainly seemed to help a bit, but the sodding humid Sydney weather is conspiring against me.

Next up, I've added a couple of stairways up to the rampart (that I will neaten up later) and have been working on the platform over the gate and the gates themselves. I was trying to put the gateposts into a sort of bracket so that they would open, but I think I will just leave them loose so they can be positioned open or closed. Note the primitive 'murder holes' above the gate. The doors and platform are made from paddle pop sticks, split lengthways into more realistically-sized planks and then re-assembled. This process attracted some pitying looks and satirical comments from the Duchess, I can tell you. Count youselves lucky if you have a Cave to hide in. I have the dining room table, my nerdiness on full display...

Viking Fort Work in Progress

2011-11-09T02:24:00.000-08:00

Playing Saga has made me want to make some Dark Ages terrain. I've never attempted terrain boards and such, but plunged in on the weekend with the start of a Viking/generic dark ages fort. The twice-poxed MDF base is already warping a little (which I thought they weren't supposed to do?), but otherwise things are proceeding nicely. I will be happy to finish whittling bits of dowel for the pallisade though. Here's how it's looking so far:

Saga Viking Warband Finished!

2011-11-04T20:12:00.000-07:00

Just put the finishing touches to my first warband for Saga - four points worth of Vikings.

Here's the whole gang, comprising...

...the warlord with his bodyguard...

...another point of hearthguard...

...a third point of hearthguard, taking the option of turning them into berserkir (well, Ulfednar)...

...and a fourth point spent on warriors (bondi).

Have I mentioned how much I love this game?

SAGA!

2011-10-26T02:57:00.000-07:00

I have been very interested in everything I have read and heard (on Meeples and Miniatures) about Gripping Beast’s new Saga rules. I ordered a set of the rules, dice and starter warbands for the Vikings and Welsh, which arrived a few weeks back. Since then I have had a good look over the rules, played a few games and got stuck into painting up warbands.

This is a review of sorts based on my experience so far. To start with, let me say that I like this game a lot. I’ve usually not been attracted by skirmish games, although I like the look of the Song of… series from Ganesha Games. However, if any skirmish game was going to get me in it would be set in the Viking age. I have always loved reading the Norse sagas, and there is something about the larger than life figures we find in the sagas that lend themselves well to games that emphasise the actions of heroic individuals. For some reason Harald Hardrada at Stamford Bridge stirs my blood more than Tiberius Gracchus going over the wall at Carthage, for instance.

So how does Saga work? There are a few excellent reviews already on the web, but for what it’s worth here is my brief summary.
Saga pits the warband of one (or more) warlord against another. So far the game encompasses four rival ‘factions’ of the 11th century – Vikings, Anglo-Danish, Welsh and Normans. Rules for more ‘factions’ are on their way, and we can expect Scots and middle Anglo-Saxons (c. 9th century?) to be added before Christmas. When mustering a warband the game uses a simple points system. A group of 4 hearthguard, 8 warriors or 12 levies cost one point each, and the warlord is free. The game is really intended for 6-point warbands, although they recommend starting with 4 points. On the tabletop, these groups can be organized into different units, so long as no unit contains fewer than four figures or more than 12, and so long as each unit consists of only one type of figure (so a unit cannot contain warriors and levy, for example).

Work in Progress - a 4 Point Anglo-Danish Warband (well, 9th century Saxons, really...)

And a Viking Warband under construction, led by Harald the Half-Painted.

Some things I like about this system is that it is dead simple and that it only differentiates between the forces of different ‘factions’ in a few small ways in order to draw out different ‘national’ characteristics. For example, Anglo-Danish hearthguard are equivalent to their Viking counterparts in all respects except that one unit of Vikings can be berserkers, and Anglo-Danes can be armed with Danish axes. Welsh hearthguard have slightly less armour protection but carry javelins, and so on.

The mechanics of movement and combat are very straightforward. All foot figures can move a set distance unless they are mounted (in which case they move further) or unless they touch rough terrain or an obstacle (in which case they move less!) Melee and shooting is resolved by a simple system of rolling a number of dice (D6s) depending on the type of figures engaged and scoring hits when the number rolled is equal to or greater than the enemy’s armour (eg 5 for hearthguard, 4 for warriors). Your opponent then has a saving throw for each hit with 5-6 cancelling a hit scored in melee, 4-6 cancelling a hit by a missile.
Sounds pretty dull so far, doesn’t it? The real meat of the game are the Battle Boards. At the start of each turn the player rolls a set of special Saga dice (see below) and chooses how to allocate them to their Board to be able to activate their units or to activate special combat modifiers or other abilities. Clearly a lot of playtesting and thought has gone into devising abilities on the Battle Boards that try to capture some of the essential differences between, say, Viking and Welsh warfare. For example, the ‘Saga Abilities’ on the Welsh Battle Board emphasise rapid movement and use of rough terrain, whereas the Viking Saga abilities encourage aggressive closing to melee as rapidly as possible. As just one example of a specific ability, the Welsh Board includes a ‘Taunting’ ability. This allows the Welsh player to target an enemy unit (in the enemy’s turn) and force it to charge a Welsh unit of the Welsh player’s choice. Clever game play can use an ability like this to draw an enemy unit out of a strong position and force it to fight on disadvantageous terrain.

Trying out Saga at Southern Battle Gamers last Friday.

The Battle Boards create a highly interactive game that reminds me at times of a game like Magic The Gathering. Having dice on Saga Abilities on your Battle Board is a bit like holding Instants in your hand in a game of Magic. You can play them during your opponent’s turn to upset their strategy. The other very interactive aspect is how the game handles fatigue. Although units can be activated as many times as the Saga Dice allow in a turn, this comes at the cost of accruing fatigue. In a nice game mechanic, the fatigue of a unit can be ‘spent’ by their opponent to decrease their effectiveness in combat, or the player can try to increase an enemy unit’s fatigue in order to exhaust it, thus in many cases providing opportunities to use specific Saga abilities.

Anyway, this might give you a bit of a feel for the game. I love it, and one of the things I love about it is that it will prove very successful in getting people into historical wargaming. In the club I run at school it has gained an instant following, and there are currently about 8 boys (and a couple of other teachers!) busily painting up their warbands. The small number of figures involved make this an accessible game to get into, and particularly when boys come from a background of playing games like Magic or that unaccountably popular game with hammer in the title, the mechanics are easy to pick up. I really must thank Ian from War and Peace Games for his support for the school club, and for his enthusiasm in seeing kids get involved in the hobby. Buy stuff from him - he's a brilliant bloke.

The rulebook also contains some extra bits and pieces – some good scenarios and rules for named heroes as warlords for example. The game is also supported by a good forum, where we can expect to see new scenarios and faction rules developed enthusiastically in the weeks and months to come. A PDF of the Saga Dice symbols is also available for free on the forum, so don't be put off by the cost of the dice - make your own. To be honest, I played a game last Friday just using D6s instead of Saga dice, and there was no problem. See the dice as attractive and adding flavour to the game, but they aren't necessary.

Suffice it to say that I am hooked, and busy painting. This is a really clever little game that is, most importantly, damn good fun.

MOAB 2011

2011-10-02T18:28:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I got to spend the day at MOAB, the annual wargames convention put on by the Southern Battle Gamers in Sylvania, Sydney. Despite my long standing hobby interests this was the first time I've ever been to a convention, and I had a blast. I picked up a Langton Danish frigate, a box of Gripping Beast Vikings and some bases, but the highlight was definitely the DBA competition. I played 5 games and won 2, which I was very pleased with, having never taken part in a competition before. A big thank you is due to Stephen Webb for organising the event and supplying terrain etc. I'm only sorry I couldn't hang around for the Sunday DBA campaign set in 1067. Most importantly, the homunculi were quite pleased with me, as I failed to have them massacred in my customary style. The dice blessing obviously did the trick.

Hac alea vincam!

2011-09-28T22:39:00.000-07:00

In preparation for the DBA competition at MOAB on Saturday the homunculi held their Dice Blessing Ceremony today. They are usually very secretive about this event, but I was fortunate to be able to capture it on film. A simple, but very moving ceremony.

First thoughts on Kiss Me, Hardy

2011-09-26T05:08:00.000-07:00

Having painted up four Langton ships, and with more on the way, I've been wanting to find a set of rules I like for Napoleonic naval warfare. Last night I had a go of Kiss Me, Hardy (KMH) from Too Fat Lardies, just having a solo game to see how the mechanics worked. So here are some initial thoughts.

The set up at the start of the game. Note the incredible terrain.

The Rules
KMH is the first game by Too Fat Lardies that I have played. It is available from their website as a 49-page PDF download for 7 quid. The rules are generally easy to follow and clearly written, and include templates for the turning circles used by ships during the game. The basic mechanics of the game is explained well by the Last Hussar here, so I won't repeat his comments. Instead, this is how I found the game after playing a few turns.

The Game

I played a simple encounter between the French Hortense (40) and Scipion (74) against the British Phoebe (36) and Orion (74). Before playing I filled out a record sheet for each ship, recording such factors as the number of points of damage the ship can take (which is the same as its number of guns). It is also necessary to roll for each ship to determine the quality of the crew. This then gives the ships different abilities depending on whether it is British or French (KMH divides all navies of the Napoleonic wars into three groups - Jolly Jack Tars, Sans Culottes or Landlubbers). So for example, I rolled well for the Orion, giving it an elite crew. As a British ship the Orion is naturally crewed by Jolly Jack Tars, and as they were an elite crew they were able to fire double shotted at close range, were fervently determined (making them less likely to strike) and so on. In contrast, I rolled badly for the French Hortense (crewed by Sans Culottes), with the result that its crew were poor gunners and sailors, and also more likely to strike. This is a simple system that allows ships to have very distinct abilities in the game, and an optional rule allows a commander to 'buy' additional abilities.

After determining the characteristics of each ship, I set up the French and British squadrons on opposite corners of the table and diced for wind direction. The game started with the British having the wind on their quarter, able to crack on like smoke and oakum, while the French would have to beat up against the wind, which was on their bow.

The turn sequence is card driven, meaning that there is a deck of cards for different stages of the turn (British player fires, French player moves etc) as well as for events like changing wind direction, checking for fires, fighting boarding actions and so on. Card driven mechanics are central to Too Fat Lardies games as they introduce a degree of uncertainty and inability to meticulously plan all the stages of action. Richard Clarke, the main Lardie, gives an excellent explanation for his thoughts about game mechanics in episode 58 of the Meeples and Miniatures Podcast.If you don't already subscribe to this, by the way it's great and free. I get Meeples and Miniatures through iTunes, and there is nothing so nerdy as painting figures while listening to a podcast about painting figures. Anyway, Richard Clarke is very keen on building the Clausewitzian notion of friction into his games, which can loosely be defined as all the factors that mean that war never goes to plan. Personally I'm very drawn to this notion, and like unpredictability in games, but it isn't everyone's cup of tea.

So, in my game, the British move card came up first, and the Phoebe and Orion went straight for the French. I decided in this game just to get the ships into action as fast as possible and see what happened. When the French card came up, the Scipion and Hortense tacked to get the wind on their opposite bows. Tacking is accompanied by a simple die roll to check its success, depending on the quality of the sailors. In this case, the Hortense made a perfect tack, meaning that it could continue its full move after tacking. The Scipion made a successful tack, but wasn't capable of any further movement.

In Turn 2, the British move card came up first again, so the ships continued to close with each other.

Turn 3: The Phoebe prepares to open fire on Hortense.

Turn 3 - it all happens. The British again moved first. The Phoebe (armed solely with carronades) moved alongside the French frigate Hortense at close range, using the frigate turning circle template to turn alongside. The slower Orion was still bringing up the rear. Unfortunately, the French move card then came up, so the Hortense moved ahead and turned, ending up on the Phoebe's front starboard quarter, while the Scipion moved alongside the Phoebe.

Phoebe opens fire, but with Scipion as its unintended target.

The next card allowed the British to fire, so Phoebe let fly at the much heavier Scipion. Combat in KMH is simple, fast and fun. Basically, a number of dice are thrown depending on the number of guns, and dice are added or subtracted depending on a various factors. So, as a 36 gun frigate the Phoebe would roll 4 dice, another die was added because the crew were Jolly Jack Tars firing at short range, and another because this was the initial broadside. This was then doubled as the Phoebe was firing carronades at short range, to a total of 12 dice. As this was short range, I needed 3 or more on each dice to hit. 7 Hits! At the same time as rolling the dice, I also rolled a D10 for special damage. I needed to roll less than or equal to the number of hits (ie 7) to inflict additional special damage, but rolled a 9. So, 7 boxes were marked off the damage boxes on the Scipion's record sheet, and it also lost one gunnery die as the Phoebe was firing at its hull (1D6 is removed from the gunnery dice for each 5 hits).

Phoebe suffers full broadsides from both French ships.

This probably gives you some idea of the sequence of play. In brief, when the French fire card came up the Phoebe was hit with punishing broadsides from Scipion and Hortense, including special damage resulting in a fire and high officer casualties. The Phoebe's damage points were reduced below 50%, requiring he to make a strike test, which she failed. At the end of Turn 3 Phoebe therefore struck as a more powerful enemy ship was within close range. A devastating turn for Phoebe, which is pretty much what one would expect if a frigate received a full broadside at close range from a 74 and a heavier frigate.

What I like about these rules

They are simple, fun and cheap! (Compare the price with the much more lavishly produced Warhammer: Trafalgar).
Personally, I like the card driven mechanics, especially since the use of cards allow a great deal of flexibility in adding special cards for different scenarios.
Although I didn't play them, the rules include pretty much everything one would want from a Napoleonic game, with rules for boarding actions, slipping anchors, running aground etc.
The national characteristics give different players very different tactical challenges. For example, the French propensity for firing at rigging is represented by giving the French a bonus if they do so at extreme range, whereas it is in the British interest to close to short range as quickly as possible.
The combat system is simple, and does away with having to compute multiple modifiers by simply adding or subtracting dice.

What I didn't like
It is a shame the rule book does not include a single page Quick Reference Sheet. I found myself flicking backwards and forwards a lot. However, there is a good QRS on the Too Fat Lardies Yahoo Groups site.
Filling out all the record sheets before a large game would take a considerable amount of time, although again there are various files on the Yahoo Group, eg giving record sheets for all the ships at Trafalgar.
Some aspects of the rules could be much clearer with just a little further explanation. I found myself confused about some issues, particularly:

1. Do bow and stern chasers have a firing arc, or only fire straight ahead? This also needs to be resolved for gunboats and galleys, and gunboats are not addressed in the rules at all.
2. What bonuses or penalties do bow chasers suffer? For example, crews classed as Landlubbers reduce 1D6 from their broadside dice. However, frigates only roll one die for chasers, so does this mean that Landlubbers can't use them?
3. The rules do not clarify whether a ship can change direction during its move, eg turning several points to larboard, going straight, then moving to starboard. Also, it is unclear whether a ship can tack at any point in its move, or only at the start. I asked both these questions on the Lardie Yahoo Group, and Richard Clarke sent a rapid response saying yes to both instances, so the support for the game is very good.

Would I play this again?

Definitely. I think rules lawyers and overly competitive types would baulk at some of the grey areas and unpredictability in the rules, but I think they offer a fun, simple and realistic-feeling system that would probably work equally well for anything from frigate actions to Trafalgar. I do think that some rules clarifications are probably necessary before a game in order to avoid misunderstandings. I'm impressed, and look forward to playing it against someone who isn't me. I would also look seriously at other Lardie games on the basis of this. So, an enthusiastic huzzah from the Dux.

Victory is Mine!

2011-09-23T18:19:00.000-07:00

Well, no.

Had a great night last night down in the Shire playing DBA against Harry Hotspur. We played four games, two with my matched pairs (Late Roman v Ostrogothic) and two with his armies (Seleucid v Nabatean and Pegamene v Seleucid). Hotspur managed to work out his unfounded anti-Roman prejudice by crushing my Late Romans twice - (I need to work on clever use of terrain to neutralise all those Gothic knights). Switching to his uxorious Hellenistic despots, I managed to defeat his Nabateans after Hotspur undertook an impressive outflanking move with about fifty elements of psiloi, which then failed to play any further part in the battle. They occupied that patch of woods to my left rear, and by the gods they were not going to give it up. The last battle I would rather forget. My disastrous deployment led to rapid and comprehensive destruction.

So 3-1, but some valuable lessons learnt, and the first games of DBA in some years. As always, thanks to Hotspur for thoroughly enjoyable games. A man as gracious in victory as in his rare defeats, although he does have a thing about the Romans.

I think Ross Mac is right in his comment on my last post - I must get into the proper mindset before MOAB. So, this week I will be doing some intensive training by watching the Dambusters, Master and Commander and The Way Ahead. I will drink some stong ale and work on my general belligerence. And I shall work on my motivational speeches, modelling my pre-battle harangue on this fine example:

Anyone coming to MOAB?

2011-09-22T22:15:00.000-07:00

The Dux doesn't get out much, but is planning a ducal visit to MOAB on Saturday 1 October. Anyone else coming? It would be nice to meet some of you in the flesh.

In fact, I have even succumbed to the suggestion of My Lord Hotspur and signed up for the 15mm DBA competition on Saturday! This will be interesting, and no doubt humiliating, having never played DBA in a comp, and not at all for about 5 years. The competition is for matched pairs, so I have dusted off my old 15mm figures I painted for DBM in 1993-4, and recruited a late Roman army and the Ostrogothic army of Radagaesus. I have quite an affection for these old figures, painted back in the days before shading or washes, and before I realised that card bases warp and Essex figures look like gnomes.

I have given them a bit of a once over, splashing about some Devlan mud, improvising some camps and fixing up a few shields and bases here and there.

This is II78a (Late Imperial Roman: West)

And this is II/67a (Early Ostrogothic - army of Radagaesus)

I'm heading down across the Brandywine into the Shire to have a game with Hotspur tonight, so I'm sure he will be gloating on his blog by this time tomorrow.

What's on the Workbench...

2011-09-20T23:46:00.000-07:00

I have a couple of weeks off from work at the moment, and am hoping to use it to do some serious hobbying, within the constraints of looking after small children.

As it happens, it was also my birthday last week. My brother very kindly gave me a gift voucher for some Langton ships from Waterloo Minis. Even better, my father gave me a cheque out of the blue and told me to spend it on my hobbies!! As a result of the planets aligning in this miraculous way, here is what I have to look forward to:

1. I've bought a copy of the Lasalle rules from Eureka, and they look great. Time to paint some more Napoleonics, I think. But the dilemma of scale...stick with my preferred 1/72 scale? Trouble is, I know of one other person on the continent who plays with this scale (Bonjour, Rosbif!), and this is a large continent. So, wade into 28mm? Great figures, but probably too much of a commitment in painting time... So 15mm it is, swayed by the lovely AB figures.

2. Therefore, I've ordered a battalion of French line infantry and a regiment of Chasseurs a Cheval from Eureka, with the aim of making a Lasalle force for 1813.

3. From Waterloo Minis, a small force of Danish 1:1200 Langton ships are on their way. Over the next few weeks I'm hoping to try out some different Age of Sail rules (I already have Kiss Me Hardy).

4. The Trafalgar rules from Warhammer Historical are on their way...

5. Today is the official release of the Saga rules from Gripping Beast. I'm really drawn to these rules from what I've read so far, and think they might work well at the school historical wargames club. So I've taken the plunge and ordered the rulebook and a starter warband for the Welsh and the Vikings.

If only I had the time to do all this justice, but it will keep me busy for a while. Thanks dad!

Scipion and Hortense

2011-09-19T04:54:00.000-07:00

The British ships I finished recently need something to shoot at, so here they are: the French Scipion (74) and Hortense (40). I think I'm starting to get the hang of the rigging, although the ratlines and shrouds still do my head in.

Now that I have four ships completed, I'm going to start trying out the available rules, with 'Kiss Me Hardy' being the first.

HMS Phoebe (36)

2011-08-30T03:08:00.000-07:00

Here is my next Langton ship: the 36 gun frigate HMS Phoebe.

And here Phoebe joins HMS Orion, their captains drinking bumpers to Bonaparte's confusion and enjoying a noble great spotted dog for pudding.

Next up I have two French ships in the yards, but then I'm thinking of painting up a small Danish fleet, for something different.

Just quietly though, I'm also getting pretty excited about the upcoming Saga rules from Gripping Beast...

My First Langton Ship!

2011-08-18T02:48:00.000-07:00

And now for something completely different....

Having finished the Norman Basic Impetus army, it's time to finish off some old projects. A couple of years back I bought four of the beautiful 1:1200 scale Napoleonic ships made by Rod Langton I got half way through making two of them until the rigging did my head in and I lost heart.

However, the Dux is made of stern stuff, and is further inspired by rereading the Aubrey-Maturin Novels of Patrick O'Brian. These are easily my favourite historical novels ever. I'm quite keen to do some age of sail gaming, so I got hold of a copy of the 'Kiss Me Hardy' rules from Too Fat Lardies, which look good although there are lots of things they don't explain very well (at least not to a lubber like me).

So, fortified by half a litre of strong Norwegian beer, I got back to the rigging. The first ship off the blocks is the British 74 'Orion', which fought at Cape St Vincent, the Nile and Trafalgar. You may note that 'Minotaur' is written on the base, but the Minotaur was a somewhat different design, so I have since renamed it. There is also now a pennant flying from the mainmast. This is the first one of these little gems I have tried to make, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

Basic Impetus Demo Game

2011-08-13T03:01:00.000-07:00

On Friday after school last week we put on a demo game of Basic Impetus for boys who wanted to know more about Historical Wargaming. This was the first game for my 28mm Viking and Norman armies, and actually the first game I've played with 28mm figures. I used the Normans, under the nom de guerre of Odo Iron Arm, with Conan the Librarian taking the Vikings.

The scenario:

The year is about 1020. A Viking raiding force has been making itself generally objectionable in the Duchy of Normandy, nicking plasma screen TVs and so on. The local powerful bastard Odo Iron Arm drags himself away from the mead hall and wenches to call up his retainers and catch the Danish seawolves. Moving through a recently looted village, Odo's men see the Vikings drawn up on a ridge waiting for them.

The set up.
The Normans struggle to deploy for battle from the road.

The game:

The first few turns saw my Normans trying to deploy off the road and making a mess of it. My initial plan was to concentrate on the Vikings on the ridge to my left, hopefully softening them up with footsoldiers and crossbowmen first. This didn't work so well. My footsoldiers charged the Vikings shieldwall and were promptly massacred, while the missile troops failed to make any impression.

Failing that, I charged the Bondi deployed across the road. This turned into a slogging match that started looking worse and worse for me, particularly after Conan launched some of his other Bondi into my flank.

Over on my left, the Viking Berserkers finally couldn't take it any longer and charged my general. This was one of several epic moments in the game, where Odo and his retinue beat off the Berserkers and pursued them back through the gap in the Viking shieldwall, only to be hit in both flanks and destroyed by the Odalsbondi on either side.
Running out of shields to bite, the Berserkir charge.

Odo pushes back the Berserkir, but not without loss. Casualty figures mark disorder and shields with different numbers of segments keep track of damage.

Fortunately, from this point on I had uncharacteristically excellent luck. I sent a unit of knights around on my right flank and dislodged the shieldwall isolated on the right side of the road. They continued on, rolling up the Viking Skirmishers and tipping the balance in the centre. Meanwhile, over on my far left flank a unit of knights broke another unit of Bondi. The Vikings army reached its break point and victory was mine (just).

The game was loads of fun, and hopefully served to inspire a few more boys to get into historical wargaming. I did here one boy remark 'it's just like Warhammer', but restrained myself from putting him on detention. Once again, I enjoyed the unpredictability of Basic Impetus, but also the way that different armies have their own characteristics. The Viking ability to form a shieldwall, especially when deployed on a hill, made them tougher than the Norman knights so long as they kept their formation. So whereas I had all the tactical mobility and initiative, I had to try to find a way to lure the Vikings out of their strong position or end up in unpredictable slogging matches (which is largely what happened).
Endgame.

More Normans

2011-08-01T04:35:00.000-07:00

Things have been busy at Homunculorum Towers, but I have been chipping away at my 28mm Norman army for Basic Impetus. Here are a few pics of the latest batch of knights from Conquest Games.

This is Svein, having a bad day. Not only did he leave his helmet at home, but he wasted so much time looking for it that the other Vikings went off without him. Here he is trying to find their shieldwall in a bit of a rush.

Irregular Wars - Regular Result

2011-07-16T04:27:00.000-07:00

Last night I paid a Ducal visit to the HQ of the Southern Battle Gamers in Sylvania and met up with Nic, aka Harry Hotspur, the author of the 'Irregular Wars' rules. You can learn about the rules and read a highly tendentious account of our battles on Nic's blog here.

Game 1. Lowland Scots v. English

We fought two battles, me with my lowland Scots and Nic using first his Royal Sassenachs and then some Irish rabble. Irregular Wars is a fun system for fighting small actions from c.1519-1641, and I think Nic has captured something of the flavour of small confused melees, quite different to rules dealing with larger set-piece battles. I particularly like the way that the loss of a unit can have catastrophic effects on those around it. Once general melee is joined it feels like a slogging match, until the loss of a unit can result in a sudden collapse of your whole army.

Well, that was certainly my experience...

Nic has given his own reports on our engagements, and the Dux is not one to quibble or split hairs. He forbears, for example, to point out that his army may have been vanquished but remained entirely free of the pox. Nor does he point out that his morale was steadily eroded by the sardonic comments of Stu the Nameless One. But beaten I was. The first game surprised me - I was pretty confident for most of it, but the English demi lancers proved decisive.

Border horse try to hold the English demi-lancers, but are hit in the flank by pikes.

The border horse are swept away, followed soon after by my cannon.

Due to my poor recruitment die rolls in our second game I was heavily outnumbered (albeit pox free), so didn't hold out much hope. My plan was to put all my horse ont one flank and try to roll up Nic's army before he could envelop me on the other. This worked ok, and I managed to neutralise his superior numbers for a while, but my general in the pike block in my centre ended up practically surrounded, then dead, which made the rest of my force evaporate. All except the unit of border horse that went riding off, out of control after routing some Irish Kerns.

Game 2. My pitifully small force faces off against an all-infantry Irish army of kerns, bonnachts and gallowglasses.

My cavalry on the left flank fail to make the decisive breakthrough I need, while my general's pike block in the centre is assailed by gallowglasses and Spanish targeteers. Oh it's all so depressing...

Despite my customary drubbing, it was a great night, and thanks to Nic for meeting up for a game. Irregular Wars is well worth a look.

The Witch Hunter Chronicles

2011-06-25T02:43:00.000-07:00

My mate Stu has previously appeared in this blog under two of his aliases 'The Nameless One' and 'Loathpa' ('Lord of a Thousand Half-Painted Armies'). Last year he happened to mention to me that he had been working on a series of books (!) and had a contract with Random House (!!). Most hilariously, for a man who famously refuses to read any books written in the first person it turns out he had written one.

Anyway, this is a shameless and unsolicited plug on his behalf, because the first book in the series ('The Scourge of Jericho') is out this week. It looks like his Witch Hunter Chronicles are going to be huge with their target market of teenage boys. I can't wait to read them myself, although I haven't been able to extract a copy from Stu. Stu has a great knowledge of the 17th Century, which is when he has set his books, and the stories of the Hexenjaeger ought to provoke some interest in the period from his readers. So if you know a teenage boy, or haven't grown up yourself, buy 'em a copy.

You can read more about the book here, complete with a photo of Stu looking like a big eejit.

Covenanters in 28mm - WIP

2011-06-17T19:27:00.000-07:00

Along with my 10,000 other projects I have a great big pile of unpainted 28mm figures for the ECW. And now I've actually painted a few! These will probably be for a Scots Government army from 1648, as I have already made a few useful banners, and I quite admire the pragmatism of the Engagers. But back to the Normans for now...

Oh - and figures are from Warlord Games and Eureka. The Eureka figures are a little smaller than the Warlord ones, but the mounted troops mix well enough. The Eureka figures are supposed to represent Lord Gordon's Horse, who went over to join with Montrose's army. And very nice figures they are too, even though they seems to have switched sides yet again.

Conquest Games 28mm Norman Knights

2011-06-11T04:12:00.000-07:00

Just finished a first batch of Normans from the new 28mm plastic set from Conquest Games. These were lovely figures to put together. My only real criticism is the way that none of the kite shields in the set include bosses, and that there aren't enough kite shields for each figure to have one. I added some bosses by carefully carving some off the Wargames Factory Saxon shields, which was easier than I expected.

Figures are based for Impetus...

Each box of figures comes with one rather drmatic casualty figure, which I will use for disorder markers.

Oh the Humiliation....

2011-06-07T02:47:00.000-07:00

My twins are about 22 months old now and starting to speak. The Mini Duchess is saying 'daddy!' a lot, which warms the cockles of the old Dux's heart. However, she has also started 'identifying' me in all sorts of unlikely places. So far, she has pointed out a photo of Adam Spencer as me (which might mean something to you if you live in Sydney) and some random bloke in the park. The common feature seems to be baldness. This was brought home to me with crushing humiliation when she squealed excitedly, yelled 'daddy!' and pointed at a picture of Humpty Dumpty.

I'll get my coat....

Buildings from Gripping Beast

2011-05-25T04:52:00.000-07:00

To go with my Vikings I bought a couple of resin Gripping Beast buildings from War and Peace Games - their timbered barn and Saxon church. I love these - dead easy to paint and look pretty cool. I'll probably buy some more. They also make a longship that looks pretty tempting...

Yep, I'm stylish as well

2011-05-24T03:32:00.000-07:00

Monsieur le Rosbif very kindly nominated my humble blog as stylish. I like seeing the Stylish blogger thing go around - it sort of celebrates the community of hobby blogs and is a good opportunity to highlight the work of others. I am constantly in awe of the amazing work I see on your blogs, and also at the amount of work some of you churn out. (Don't you have jobs??!!) I'm going to pass on Rosbif's beneficia by nominating just one blog - Nick Grant's 20mm Gamer Nick's blog, and particularly his website before it helped get me back into gaming, and inspired me to explore the Golden Age of 1/72 plastic figures. But to all the rest of you - thanks for all the inspiration.

I think I'm also meant to share 10 facts about myself, so here goes:

1. About the happiest I've ever been was wandering around the ruins of Ostia with the Duchess.
2. I teach history at a school,
3. which is ironic, since I hated school,
4. where I largely coped by developing insular hobbies like this one.
5. I wrote a book once, but it isn't very good.
6. After my hobbies music is probably the main thing that keeps me sane(ish). The last album I bought that sent shivers up my spine was 'Let England Shake' - PJ Harvey.
7. The best meal I ever ate was in a Ristorante in Ravenna. I was visiting by myself in 2004 to photograph mosaics and just wandered into some place and asked to give me whatever they thought I should eat. Bresaola, then the local pasta and ragu, then caramelised figs with mascarpone and flatbread, washed down with a bottle of Lacrima Christi del Vesuvio. Life is good.
8. I miss living in the UK.
9. My favourite historical novels are the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian.
10. I am graded as scholar in Single sword and English Longsword.

Vikings for Basic Impetus - Finished!

2011-05-22T03:43:00.000-07:00

It has been a big couple of weeks, with the latest outbreak of plague to rip through the family and a week of exam marking, so apologies for the silence. I return to Blogland to see that many of you cleaver chaps have been very busy, and also that Monsieur le Rosbif has honoured me with a Stylish Blogger Award. I'll reply properly to that shortly, but I just wanted to get these images up before the end of the weekend.

Yep, I've finished my first 28mm army, Danish Vikings for Basic Impetus. All figures are from Wargames Factory. Click to enlarge.

Here are the skirmishers, converted from Wargames Factory Vikings and Ancient Germans

The Berserkers are also a mix of parts from Viking and Early German figures.

The shields are for keeping track of a unit's VBU (strength) in Impetus. Rather than the usual expedient of putting dice next to the unit showing the right number of pips, the number of segments the shield is divided into tells you the VBU (so 1-4, left to right).

Some simple conversions into casualties to use as Disorder Markers.

Oddddiiiiiinnn!!

Vale Professor Richard Holmes

2011-05-01T01:41:00.000-07:00

I was very saddened to hear of the death of Professor Richard Holmes on 30 April at the far too young age of 65. In my view Professor Holmes was an exemplary military historian, able to give a good view of strategy and tactics without ever losing sight of the human experience of war. I had the great privilege of sharing a pint with him back in Oxford after a lecture in 2004, and I have met few men able to share their expertise with such humility and generosity. I remember him telling us about a trip he had just been on to Cassino, and he painted a vivid picture of clambering about the hills finding the tail fins of mortar bombs from 1944. I fear that my mate Giles and I were like 14 year old girls meeting Justin Bieber when we met him. Professor Holmes leaves an impressive body of work, and if you haven't read his 'Redcoat' on the British Army in the age of horse and musket, I can't recommend it enough.

This really is terribly sad news.

Friday Night

2011-04-29T15:01:00.000-07:00

So, got home last night, got the kids to bed, and settled in for a good evening of painting Vikings and drinking beer. Ended up glued to the telly watching the Royal Wedding with the Duchess. (Our invitations to Westminster must have gone astray). Such a magnificent spectacle, watching the Horse Guards trot down to the Palace. And I quite liked the dress. I have very strong childhood memories of Charles and Di's wedding, which probably helps to explain my surprising lack of cynicism. Good luck to them.

In other news, my Medieval Germans brought me victory against an early Imperial Roman Army at the school wargames club last night, breaking my unbroken record of catastrophic defeats. A good Friday all round.

Napoleonic British Infantry

2011-04-26T02:31:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a great Easter break. Here are some Napoleonic British battalions from 1815 I painted a few years back. First up is the 1st battalion KGL, made from my carefully hoarded boxes of Revell Napoleonic British Infantry.

Next, the 1/ and 2/95th Rifles, also from Revell. This is one of my favourite sets of figures.

The 71 (Glasgow) Light infantry, from the disappointing HaT set, along with some figures from A Call to Arms and a converted Esci bugler.

And one of my favourite British regiments - the 52 Oxfordshire Light Infantry.

As always, click to make 'em bigger. Thanks for looking!

Vale Sarah Jane

2011-04-23T01:09:00.000-07:00

Very sad to hear this week of the death of Elisabeth Sladen. I've been feeling quite gloomy about it today, remembering the sheer childlike joy with which I used to watch her as Sarah Jane Smith, the first real Dr Who companion I have clear memories of. So many great moments glimpsed from behind the sofa, as the Doctor and Sarah Jane battled with Daleks, Cybermen, Eldrad, Sutekh, the Giant Robot... So here's to Elisabeth Sladen for enriching my childhood, and I suspect that of many others as well.

Gripping Beast plastic Saxons

2011-04-22T17:15:00.000-07:00

Brian Blessed and his fellow Vikings deserve some worthy opponents, so I bought a box of the new plastic Gripping Beast Saxon Thegns from the excellent chaps at War and Peace Games.

For those interested, here are a few pics of some assembled figures.

I was interested to see how they compared to the Wargames Factory thegns. Mostly, all of Nedoreth's comments in his excellent comparison of GB and WF Vikings apply. The GB figures are easier to put together, but probably lend themselves to a more limited number of poses (they are made to represent a shield wall, after all). In height, the figures from both companies are a perfect match, although in proportions the GB blokes are noticeably more beefy and have bigger heads, with loads more individual character than the WF figures and impressive mustaches. The GB weapons are of the exaggerated proportions many expect, although not to ludicrous GW extremes. The WF spears and swords do look a little puny in comparison though.

The GB figures are very much aimed at representing the 'middle' Anglo-Saxon period (8th-10th centuries). Some of the helmets included really belong to the 8th century or earlier, especially those with boar crests or cheek pieces. There are no kite shields or two-handed Danish axes, so they aren't really suitable for Hastings by themselves. In contrast, WF include some kite shields and even a head with a mail coif under his helmet, so they work for the 11th century.

I tend to prefer the GB figures, despite the slightly exaggerated proportions. They really look the business, and fit together well to form an impressive shield wall. I also think the mail shirts on the GB figures are more convincing, with very tight sleeves on the WF figures. To get a sense of just how good the GB Saxons can look together, check out the photos of the Battle of Maldon game from Salute over at The Man Cave. (Brilliant blog, by the way). Certainly it is quite possible to mix in the WF figures to give more variety, and they would probably be better for representing charging or skirmishing figures. Here are some comparison shots.

GB on the left, WF on the right.

WF on the left, GB on the right. The angle of the photos makes the WF figure look taller, but they are the same height.

So, more painting to do as the 28mm Dark Ages bug turns from a whim to a couple of major projects. And then there are the Normans from Conquest Games... bugger. It's funny that the first army I ever painted were 15mm Normans, and I keep coming back to them in every scale I do.

Five Reasons I Know Basic Impetus is a Brilliant Game...

2011-04-19T20:17:00.000-07:00

1. I have rebased a DBA army for BI. Rebasing miniatures is hideous, and I have usually avoided it. But here they are, my new 13th Century Germans, consisting mainly of the forces of the Archbishop of Cologne with Emperor Frederick II along for the ride. I painted these ages ago, and they have been on the blog before in their DBA guise. Not the best painted minis in the world, but I like them.

2. The rules have taken off at the school wargames club. I could never really get school students interested in DBA. I think those who have grown up with Warhammer think you need to roll handfuls of dice for it to be a fun game. Well, with BI they can.

3. My great friend The Nameless One judges it to be 'a really fun game'. This is from a man who grunts noncommittally whenever I try to get him to play DBA or anything else for that matter with me. He is also the Lord of Ten Thousand Half Painted Armies. Who knows? Inspired by BI he might even finish painting one. But let's not get carried away.

4. I played a game with my friend Antonius last week, and he is inspired to paint up a Spartacan army as a result. This is astounding. Antonius is a fantasy gaming tragic, who has been known to deploy Orcs along with Napoleonic French infantry. If a historical game captures his attention, it must be good.

5. I keep enjoying it even though I am almost invariably flogged. Last term at the school club my Parthians were regularly defeated by various thirteen year olds. Hence my thinking that I would start afresh next term with Medieval Germans. Last night I had a game with Paul the Galloglaigh, threatening the Germans with Melting By Candle if they didn't perform. Well, it was close, but Paul's Mongols narrowly defeated me, largely as a result of some clever deployment that left my victorious units of knights isolated. That and my now famous appalling luck with dice.

So there we have it. Basic Impetus is a great game. Most of all, it is fun. I now have a copy of the full Impetus rules, and I can see that they would provide a much richer game as well.

And if you are wondering, I'm giving the Germans another chance....

Vikings for Basic Impetus - the Bondi

2011-04-16T02:49:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been crap and everyone has been sick, so apologies for the lack of blog action. However, amidst all the mucus the Viking army for Basic Impetus continues to grow. Here are the first two units of Bondi, also from Wargames Factory. Click on the image and it will grow magically larger before your eyes.

And Mike - I reckon this bloke looks particularly like Brian Blessed :).

Vikings for Basic Impetus

2011-03-18T19:52:00.000-07:00

Drum roll please....

Here are the first two units of my Viking army for Basic Impetus. Why the drum roll? Well, these are also the first 28mm figures I've completed. I feel obscurely guilty about neglecting my little 1/72 friends, but I'll get back to them soon.

Figures are from Wargames Factory. This is also the first time I've used the tufts on the bases, and I like the effect.

Figures are block painted, then have Army Painter strong shade applied by brush before being finished off with some highlighting. I want to work on the highlighting - not happy with it yet. I keep trying to drybrush on lighter shades, but the figures I see that look the best seem to add much bolder lines or blocks of colour.

Shields are all handpainted, with designs from various sources but particularly inspired by Neldoreth's Hour of Wolves and Shattered Shields site He is a truly brilliant painter. The banner is a paper one from Gripping Beast.

One of the things I like about Impetus is the larger base size, so I have tried to make use of it here with a little vignette featuring an overzealous Saxon about to meet his maker.

Thanks for looking!

IV/35 Mongol Conquest DBA Army

2011-03-05T15:57:00.001-08:00

Just for the sake of completeness, here is the Mongol army I painted a few years ago as part of a set with the Nevsky Russians and Teutonics. The armies are so different, but were historical opponents, so they make for an interesting campaign.

Figures are from Italeri and Zvezda. Haven't Zvezda come a long way since they produced these lumpen little men!

It has otherwise been an unproductive hobby week at Dux Homunculorum Towers, with mountains of marking, reports and the Duchess organising an uncharacteristically busy social schedule. However, the Vikings are progressing, and I received a box of Gripping Beast Saxon Thegns. Very, very nice.

Thank you to everyone who visits this humble blog. I'm chuffed to see that my followers have now hit 50! Your interest and feedback adds a lot to my enjoyment of this great hobby.

Work in Progress - Vikings

2011-02-26T23:33:00.000-08:00

I'm teaching a unit on the Vikings at the moment, which has inspired me to paint up a couple of armies for the 9th century struggles in England. I'll be basing the figures for Basic Impetus.

In a radical departure from standard Dux Homunculorum practice I have decided to have a go at painting 28mm figures. The figures are from Wargames Factory, and I'm generally pretty happy with them. As Neldoreth points out in his brilliant review of the Plastic Vikings, the figures work well as a loose unit, perhaps charging, but less well to represent a shield wall. My only real gripe withe the WF Vikings is that their hair is much too neat. Indeed, this was the first reaction of the Duchess when I asked her to admire uncritically my finished painting.

At this stage, I'm contemplating using WF Vikings, but pitting them against Saxons from Gripping Beast, which are much more suitable for making a shield wall.

I'm new to this 28mm malarkey, so any constructive feedback is very welcome.

IV/30 Teutonic Order DBA Army

2011-02-19T19:44:00.000-08:00

Here's another old DBA army. The wonderful Teutonics over on Paul's Bods blog have made me think I should redo these at some stage. These chaps are from a big project about four years ago where I was painting sets of historical opponents for DBA, so these were opponents for Mongols, Russians and C13th Germans.

German Crusader Knights. They couldn't afford the big pilgrimage package to the Holy Land, so have decided to spend their summer holidays in the Baltic instead.

The camp was done in a rush with modelling clay for the tent and monks from Strelets 'Medieval Britain' set. The tent does sort of look like something Smurfs would live in. If someone knows a good way to make bell tents, I'd love to know it.

III/78 Early Russian DBA Army

2011-02-13T00:24:00.000-08:00

Click on images to identify dodgy painting.

Well. School has started back and life is busy, so not much progress in the Dux's workshops. So I thought I'd take the opportunity of just photographing some old DBA armies. First up are the 13th century Russians I finished about four years back, consisting mainly of Strelets figures with a few Zvezda and Caesar as well. I love the look of this army (not that I've done it justice), combining the appearance of Vikings and Steppe peoples. Unfortunately, I've had no success with it at all, either in DBA or Basic Impetus. The cavalry aren't tough enough to tackle western knights, and they can't skirmish properly against Mongols. What I really need is a big lake of ice to fight on that all my enemies can fall through when it cracks. Now there's a thought.

Hmm. I'm not sure why his horse is blue either. Might have used Payne's Grey, thinking it was - yes - grey.

Marian Romans for Basic Impetus

2011-01-29T17:13:00.000-08:00

Here are the first couple of units of Marian Romans that I'm painting up as opponents for my Parthians. Figures are from Caesar, with Italeri shields. The figures are ok, but the dodgy lorica hamata (mail) has the wrong texture and looks like fur (lorica hirsuta?)

Napoleonic Saxons

2011-01-15T16:30:00.000-08:00

Here are some more Napoleonics from a couple of years back. First up, the magnificent Zvezda Saxon Cuirassiers.

...and some simple painting conversions of Saxon Infantry from the HaT French light infantry set. This is the 1st Koenig Regiment.

A sharp knife and hot water conversion to make another advancing pose and standard bearer.

A great overview of the army of Saxony in 1810-13 is available here

Basic Impetus Rematch

2011-01-14T04:21:00.000-08:00

Just come home from a rematch with Paul the Galloglaigh, following my drubbing in our first game of Basic Impetus as explained here:
http://dux-homunculorum.blogspot.com/2010/12/first-game-of-basic-impetus.html

We used the same armies for our second game - Nevsky Russians for me and Teutonic Knights for Paul. I lost again, but it was much closer, and the game could definitely have gone either way. My two units of mongols on the left flank literally ran rings around the heavy German knights, destroying a unit of Livonian light horse and even routing the unit of German crusader knights. However, my Druzhina on the left lived up to their reputation of combining the worst features of eastern and western armies. They don't charge hard enough, and they can't skirmish. Although I did a reasonable job of avoiding combat with the bloody unstoppable unit of Teutonic knights, I lost all three units of Druzhina and the game to Livonian light horse and Turcopoles.

Nick was asking for a comparison of DBA and Basic Impetus (BI). I made some observations after the first battle, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I think BI is a better game. It is damn good fun. Here's why I like it more than DBA, if you will excuse my midnight rambling:

1. The bigger bases allow for more creative and realistic-looking units.

2. Both games are obviously highly abstract. However, some of the abstraction in DBA has always irked me, particularly related to the use of psiloi and light horse. In DBA, such units don't fight at a distance, but their base contact with an enemy unit represents them skirmishing at short range with missile weapons. If a unit of Light Horse, for example, recoils or flees from an enemy, this represents the skirmishers being pushed away by a controlled charge or whatever by the defending unit.

This all makes sense, but in Basic Impetus all this happens naturally when you use skirmishers. For example, when I sent my mongols against Paul's crusader knights, they were able to gradually start wearing the much tougher unit down. Paul naturally tried to charge my mongols, but I was able to use their ability to move sideways and obliquely to avoid contact. Because Paul had allowed the unit to become isolated, my mongols effectively enveloped the knights, shooting them down from the flank and rear. This seemed much less abstract, and certainly more enjoyable than DBA, where I would have just moved the light horse into base contact with the knights and allowed the dice rolls to represent what we actually played out in BI.

3. The rules for BI are accessible, simple and mostly clearly written. There are a few confusing things - eg the quick reference sheet makes it clear that units can move backwards, but this isn't clear from the paragraph on movement in the rules. However, the Impetus forum supports the game extremely well, with the game creators responding rapidly to rules questions. I have always found DBA to be somewhat arcane.

4. The rules for contacting the enemy in BI are much simpler than in DBA, avoiding the need to make units match up exactly.

5. The gradual attrition units suffer, and the way that a whole series of melees can be fought in a turn as a victorious unit pursues a defeated foe provides a more exciting game than the contact - rebound - contact - rebound - contact - rout nature of DBA.

6. There is greater 'period flavour' in DBA, trying to give armies specific characteristics. For example, the special ability of Roman legionaries to discharge pila differentiates them from other heavy infantry.

I'm trying to think of anything I prefer about DBA. Certainly there are more army lists available for DBA at the moment. I think it is also likely that it would be harder to use DBA in competitions that try to evenly match up armies from 2500BC-AD1500. Medieval knights in BI are a heck of a lot tougher than Sarmatian cataphracts, for example, although both are treated the same in DBA (from memory).

I'd love to hear if anyone has had a different experience of the two games, and would like to champion DBA.

Parthians for Basic Impetus

2011-01-12T21:35:00.000-08:00

I have painted up a Parthian force for Basic Impetus in a rush, all ready for the competition I'm running at the school this year. I've based the figures using the base sizes for 15mm, which seems to be what most players do with their 1/72 armies. The figures are mainly HaT Parthians, with a few conversions using HaT Roman Cataphracts and Orion Parthians.

I also used this army to experiment with the Army Painter quickshade dip, beloved of many painters of 28mm figures.
http://www.warlordgames.co.uk/?page_id=3407

Instead of using a black undercoat, I undercoated these figures white, did simple block painting with no attempt to shade, then painted on the dip (I used Strong Tone). When they were dry, I went over them with Vallejo matt varnish, then did a few lighter highlights on clothing and armour.

My verdict on Army Painter?

Yes, it is overpriced repackaged furniture polish, but good luck to them. I wish I had thought of it first.

There are no problems using it on bendy plastic figures. I tested it on a HaT Andalusian spearman, bending his spear every which way with no ill effects.

I don't recommend dipping the figures. Use a brush, and treat the stuff as a wash to add depth and shadow, rather than something you have to gunk all over the place. Do some highlighting at the end of the process - it makes a huge difference. Part of me feels like I'm cheating, but it certainly saves time, and at the moment that is something I don't have a lot of. I like the effect, particularly over flesh, whites, yellows and reds, and it is great on horses. It doesn't look so good over blue.

I'll certainly be using it to put armies on the table.

Great Hobby Stuff-Ups

2011-01-10T16:19:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of new year humility, I have been reminiscing about some of the great moments of disaster, incompetence and failure that have punctuated the many years I have been enjoying this hobby. Like all good doctors, I have of course buried my worst mistakes, but I remember fondly the rocket launcher from an Airfix Bf 109 that was dropped into a jar of solvent, and the happy hours spent searching for an irreplaceable piece of an Esci Marder that I dropped and never rediscovered. More recently, I savour the memory of basing hundreds of Napoleonic figures for a set of rules that nobody plays, as well as moments of casual stupidity like buying the Italeri Napoleonic Prussians despite the fact they were obviously rubbish.

Here are five stuff-ups that have survived to irk me still.

1. Matt Base is not the same as Matt Varnish

This was probably the first base of figures I ever painted for wargaming, back when I was about 16. I remember researching the shield designs on the Bayeux Tapestry, and meticulously painting the 15mm Essex figures. When they were finished, I gazed at them with pride, if not hubris, and tried to varnish them with Matt Base. They of course turned chalky white, and I had to frantically dunk them in turps to clear off the mess. I had to repaint a number of them - the figure in the middle here was saved, but still bears the scars. When you think about it, the whole incident mirrors the Greek tragic cycle.

2. Look at the decal instructions carefully

Lovely kit - the Roden model of Carl Degelow's Pfalz, with its very classy black and silver finish and personal markings of the hind leaping forward....oh bugger.

3. Gaze into the Eyes of a Horse

Horses don't have eyes like us. With very rare exceptions, they don't have white surrounds and a dark irises. They are all very dark browny-black, despite the evidence of several hundred of my cavalry.

4. Getting the Blues

So I sent away for some quite expensive but worth every penny Art Miniaturen Prussian Uhlans. I carefully researched the uniform colours. I spent a lot of time painting them, albeit stuffing up the horses' eyes. But somehow, I painted them the glaringly wrong shade of blue. I knew that uhlans wore dark blue/black tunics, but still painted them in a light blue, then failed utterly to notice the error until someone politely pointed it out on Benno's Figures.

5. Green is not Grey

I couldn't find the offending model, but it still exists somewhere. The last model aircraft I tried to super-detail, back in the 90's, was an Italeri FW 190 A8. I spent ages on the cockpit, modelling the seat restraints, controls etc etc. I was surprised to read in the instructions that the correct colour for the cockpit interior was a rather lurid green. 'Oh well', I thought 'seems odd, but if that's what's accurate..' Of course, I somehow read 'green' for 'grey'. The resulting cockpit would make any pilot feel ill before they even fired up the engine. The model languishes in a box.

More Napoleonic Prussians

2011-01-08T15:19:00.000-08:00

Here are some more images of my Napoleonic Prussians. Hope you enjoy! As always, click on the image for a larger version.

Silesian Landwehr cavalry from Art Miniaturen. Brilliant figures with loads of character.

Art Miniaturen Silesian Landwehr

'Don't mind if I do.'

Brandenburg Cuirassiers. Head swap of HaT Russian cuirassiers with dragoons.

6th Reserve Infantry Regiment

Volunteer Jaegers, converted from various HaT figures.

6th Uhlans (Luetzow Freikorps)

General Yorck with his staff

Brandenburg Uhlans from Art Miniaturen. Again, great figures which I stuffed up by painting them the wrong shade of blue. Line Uhlans should have very dark blue/black uniforms.

Thanks for looking!

Napoleonic Prussians

2011-01-04T02:38:00.000-08:00

I haven't painted any Napoleonics for a couple of years, so have never got around to putting any photos up on the blog. However, looking at Monsieur le Rosbif's blog inspired me to get some figures out and photograph them. So, over the next few days, I present the Napoleonic Prussians from 1813-15. Figures are from Revell, HaT, Waterloo 1815 and Art Miniaturen.

The army represents about three brigades, with some reserve cavalry. Each base of infantry is a company, four bases to a battalion, and usually three battalions to a regiment. Up the back you can see some dragoons that I painted in a vile bright blue so they look like Smurfs. We shall not speak of them again.

Some line infantry to start off with. This is the Frogs' eye view of the the 2nd and 6th Regiments, with their Light (Fusilier) battalions skirmishing out front.

And this these are the 9th (Colberg) Regiment and Luetzow Freikorps, with the Guard Jaeger battalion in the lead.

Thanks for looking!

The Dux Homunculorum Guide to Wargaming Beers

2010-12-31T16:16:00.000-08:00

I'm often asked for advice about which beer should be drunk while playing different wargames*.

So, by way of saying 'Happy New Year', I offer you a guide to some of the best matches. I have persevered with this public service despite the withering looks and satirical comments of the Duchess, who seems to consider it a silly idea.

1. Canvas Eagles and Barons ESB

Canvas Eagles - brilliant game. Barons ESB - decent local Sydney Beer 'Brewed by the Brave boys at Barons'. Tally Ho!

2. DBR and Batemans Dark Lord.

Dark Lord form Batemans in Lincolnshire is a lovely rich ruby red ale, brewed in honour of 'Black Tom' Fairfax. The Dux Homunculorum beer of choice for any early modern game, and of course the English Civil War in particular. According to the label it goes well with cheese and red meat, but it is equally well suited to pursuing foppish Royalists from the field with cold steel and hard riding.

3. Pirates of the Spanish Main and Biere du Boucanier

This devastating ale from Belgium fires a full broadside of 11% alcohol. Who needs a bottle of rum when you have this? After a couple you will stop caring that the rules for Pirates are rubbish.

4. Signal Close Action and Batemans Victory Ale or Lord Nelson Three Sheets

The Dux offers you a choice here. The Lord Nelson hotel is Sydney's oldest, and brews its own beer as well. Three Sheets is a zesty, hoppy pale ale. Very nice, but unlikely to be found outside Sydney. Batemans Victory Ale is a much more robust, 6% ale that would make even salt pork seem palatable. And it has a drop-dead cool label.

5. DBA and Skull Splitter

And finally, DBA battles with dark ages and early medieval armies are incomplete without a couple of Skull Splitters from Orkney. A warning though - the 8.5% strength is likely to lead to rash tactics. According to some historians** Harald Hardrada charged the Saxon shield wall without his armour on at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066 after 6 pints of Skull Splitter.

Happy New Year. Wargame responsibly.

* This statement is not actually true.
** Nor is this one.

First Game of Basic Impetus

2010-12-30T14:54:00.000-08:00

The Dux met up with Paul the Galloglaigh last night to try out Basic Impetus. I read the rules a while ago and really liked the look of them, so have been eager to give them a go. So - Nevsky Russians vs Teutonic Knights.

Paul the Galloglaigh, sans customary armour

I used figures based for DBA, but on cardboard bases of the right size for Impetus. This had the advantage that I could write the unit stats on the bases.

The game took 2 hours, but it would have taken less than half that if we were more familiar with the rules. The result was a resounding victory for the Galloglaigh's Teutonics. My Druzhina did OK on the left flank against the Teutonic light cavalry, but the single base of Teutonic knights facing my right flank went thorugh everything they met like an angry rhinocerous, routing a unit of Druzhina and another of Mongols in a single turn. The attempt to cheat by using air support proved unneccessary...

So the verdict: How does Basic Impetus stack up against DBA?

I think I'm going to like it a lot more, and Paul rated the rules as 'a solid 8/10'. The things I really like about the rules are:

1. The larger base sizes, and emphasis on making units that look more like what they are supposed to be than is possible in DBA.

2. Even translated from Italian (with some obscure bits), the rules are still less arcane than DBA.

3. The rules for movement and contacting the enemy are simpler than DBA, and avoid the pedantic matching up of facings etc.

4. I really like the way that a unit can push back an opponent, follow it up and instantly fight a second melee. In the game we played, the Teutonic knights hit a unit of Druzhina, pushed it back after inflicting damage, followed it up and obliterated it on the second melee, then advanced impetuously and destroyed a unit of horse archers! Devastating, and rings true I think with the 'impetus' of mounted knights.

5. Games will be fast, once we know the rules better.

6. I like the progressive loss of unit strength (VBU) as units get 'ground down' in combat. I prefer this to the backwards and forwards nature of DBA.

In short, I think it's a winner. I'll have to play some more games, but I'll be quite tempted to re-base some of my figures for Basic Impetus. (And indeed my Parthians, painted up especially for BI are nearly ready...)

If you don't know them, check out the rules (and different period versions) here:

http://www.dadiepiombo.com/basic2.html

'Oh bugger.'

Latest Modelling Project

2010-12-27T16:12:00.000-08:00

My middle daughter turned 4 just before Christmas and insisted on an Ariel cake. So the Dux got together with his good wife and eldest princess and here is the result:

We were particularly proud of the lake. The top tier of the cake had a basin cut out of it, then the whole thing was covered with white chocolate. When that set we poured cool but not yet set jelly into the basin and added the Ariel doll and fish so that the jelly set around them. A brilliant idea we wish we could claim credit for, but we found it on the net somewhere. The other creatures etc were made from marzipan.

And it tasted bloody delicious.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-23T16:11:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all, and thanks for all your comments and suggestions during the year. May 2011 bring you joy in greater than 1/72 scale.

Alanus, Dux Homunculorum.

13th Century German Knights

2010-12-13T03:30:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't finished any projects in a while, but here are some figures I painted for a double-sized Medieval German DBA army about 5 years ago. Figures are a mix of Italeri, Zvezda, Caesar and Strelets. If I was doing this again now I would be using a lot of wonderful Valdemar figures. I hope you enjoy them.

Knight's Cross - the best game ever?

2010-12-09T16:59:00.000-08:00

Canvas Eagles and its WWII version Knight's Cross are two of my favourite games. At the school I used to teach at we had a long-running Canvas Eagles campaign using 1/72 aircraft models that regularly involved up to ten players. Great fun!

I changed jobs earlier this year, and naturally set up a wargames club. We will be holding a Basic Impetus tournament in the new year, but for Term 4 I ran a Knight's Cross Battle of Britain campaign. If you haven't played Knight's Cross or Canvas Eagles, I strongly recommend them. The rules are easy, exciting and intuitive, the games look brilliant, they are great for multiple players, and the rules are free! If you play a free-wheeling dogfight game people can enter and leave the battle at will, making it perfect for clubs and schools where there are lots of demands on people's time.

Check out the Canvas Eagles site (and buy some of Eric Hotz's great gaming mats while you're at it):
http://www.eaglesmax.com/

And check out the Knight's Cross Yahoo Group:
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/knightscross/

Here are a couple of photos from a Knight's Cross game I played with Paul the Galloglaich recently. Observe the impeccable formation flying of the Luftwaffe, with the RAF's 609 squadron flailing about in all directions.

HE 111's head for home after successfully bombing Debden airfield. Meanwhile, a Spitfire wreaks vengeance on a BF 110.

By the way, the stands are made from wooden bases (kindly cut up by my brother) with transparent BIC biros stuck in them.

Spanish for the Great Italian Wars

2010-12-05T18:03:00.000-08:00

Here's another experiment from earlier in the year.

For wargaming the Great Italian Wars in 1/72 scale we now have the Landsknechts and cavalry from Dark Dream Studios. We also have Conquistadors from Revell and Caesar. Nice figures, but a whole lot of sword and bucklers but only a few pikemen in the Revell set. As an experiment, I took one of the Caesar figures, cut away the bucker and sword, and replaces his head so that he looks in the opposite direction. The figure on the right was converted from the one on the left.

I then stuck a pin through both hands, so that they would stay in alignment for holding a pike, and stuck the figure in boiling water, all of which sounds like something that the Spanish were no doubt doing to people in the early C16th. The Caesar plastic goes very bendy in hot water, and stays in its new position after it cools down.

Here's the finished product.

Result. Conquistadors can be converted into other figures suitable for the Great Italian Wars. I've also seen some converted into cavalry over on Benno's Figures. The Swiss are a tougher prospect...

Montrose in 1/72 Scale

2010-12-05T02:59:00.000-08:00

Earlier in the year I set out to convert a figure suitable to lead the Scots Royalist army that I didn't get to complete. I used this mounted figure from the Strelets Jacobite set, and made a few modifications:

I carved away the foppish 18th century wig and lace and used greenstuff to give Montrose a cuirass. I also remade the sword and scabbard, and replaced the pistol holsters with pistol buckets more suitable for the C17th. This was my first real attempt at working with Greenstuff, and I'm pretty pleased with the result.

I'm Back

2010-12-05T02:38:00.000-08:00

Apologies that it has been so long between posts. I started a new job, and what with that and 15 month old twins things have been busy at Dux Homunculorum Towers. Looking at my 'Projects for 2010' list, it looks like I have managed to complete just one: the Maximilian army for DBA-RRR. Most of the Landsknechts have already appeared on the blog, but in the interest of closure here are some pics of the completed army.

Irregular Wars - Scotland 1, Spain 0

2010-08-21T03:51:00.001-07:00

Met up last night with Paul the Galloglaigh to try out the Irregular Wars rules. Paul fielded a Border Reiver army, intent on plunder, while I had the Spanish Expeditionary Force. The beer war Dark Lord, a great wargaming ale with Black Tom Fairfax on the label.

I started strongly, charging a company of border horse with my pikes. Then everything went wrong. I allowed my companies of shot to get involved in melees, and by the end Paul ripped a whole through my centre and surrounded my pikes and one company of cavalry. Disaster!

The rules were fun and simple, although I think there were a couple of melee rules we got wrong. We'll definitely be playing it again.

Covenanter Flags Part 4

2010-08-17T03:02:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple more Covenanter cavalry standards (cornets) that might be of use to someone.

First up - A cornet of Lord Mauchline's regiment, captured at Dunbar in 1650:

...and this one was surrendered on 25 August 1648 at Uttoxeter. It belonged to one of the troops of the Duke of Hamilton's life guard of horse. The slogan means 'give unto Caesar', referring to Matthew 22:21.

Enjoy!

Irregular Wars

2010-08-16T04:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a rough couple of months with the family sick, so this is the first post in ages. I've taken a break from my usual projects to make a couple of armies for Irregular Wars, a nice little set of free rules for minor battles in the C16th which is available here. The rules are written for 15mm, so I set my principles aside for once and bought a bunch of little metal men.

The first army (or 'battle' as they are called in the rules) are Border Reivers. Figures are Essex and West Riding Miniatures.

My second battle is a Spanish expeditionary force, supported by Irish kerns. Figures are by Essex.

I have to say, painting my first 1/72 figures in years didn't make me like 1/72 any less. The WRM border reivers in particular were a bit of a disappointment, with some of the figures being incredibly flat. At some stage I'll make some armies for Irregular Wars in God's own scale of 1/72....

English Civil War Clubmen

2010-05-23T17:29:00.000-07:00

'Clubmen' was the name given to locally-organised militias during the English Civil Wars who were usually motivated by the desire to defend their lands against depredations by the armies of either side. For a good summary of the Clubmen uprisings of 1644-6, see: http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/glossary/clubmen.htm

The banner is based on the only known flag carried by Clubmen, which was captured by Cromwell's troops on 4 August 1644 in a skirmish at Hambleton Hill, near Shrawton in Dorset. There is no surviving image of the flag, but the motto was recorded. I have guessed at a possible design.

The Clubmen figures are mainly conversions from the Imex set of Pilgrims, with one man wielding a quarterstaff converted from the ACTA Royalist Artillery set. The Imex Pilgrims set has all sorts of interesting conversion possibilities, as Andrew has already pointed out over on his 'Ferrous Lands' blog (http://www.ferrouslands.com/2010/02/painted-imex-pilgrims.html). The only reference I know of to any sort of uniform worn by Clubmen is a reference to a group near Salisbury in 1645 wearing white 'ribbands in their hats' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clubmen). However, this was likely just a local distinction, so I have given my figures a mix of hat bands.

Here they are!

More Landsknecht Pikemen

2010-05-22T17:44:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest batch of Landsknecht pikemen from the 1/72 scale set by Dark Dream Studios.

The flags are from Stuart Mulligan's Landsknecht painting guide, which you can find here:

http://www.stuartmulligan.com/landsknechts.htm

A huge thank you to Mr Mulligan. The painting guide is brilliant, and makes the confusing job of painting Landsknechts much easier.

Good news also for early C16th armies in 1/72 scale, with these new figures on their way from Dark Dream Studios: http://www.bennosfigures.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4571

Renaissance Cavalry

2010-05-17T01:24:00.000-07:00

The next stage of my Maximilian Imperial army for DBA-RRR is complete - the cavalry. These figures are a box of Renaissance Knights from Dark Dream Studios. Great figures - some of the horse poses leave a little to be desired, but the riders are beautifully detailed, with very fine detail on their armour. They take some putting together, with separate swords, scabbards, crests etc, but I think the results are worth it.

I just made one small conversion, giving the commander a head from a Landsknecht rather than an enclosed helmet.

It seems that Dark Dream Studio are making a follow up set to their Landsknechts (http://www.bennosfigures.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4571) , and I for one am a happy man. I just wish they would go the whole hog and bring out Renaissance Swiss, Italians, Spanish, English .... Maybe one day.

Landsknecht Pikemen

2010-04-19T02:06:00.000-07:00

Here is my first batch of Landsknecht pikemen, double based for DBA-RRR. Like the review on Plastic Soldier Review says, they are a bit of a nightmare to put together. But I'm pretty pleased with the end result.

Wargaming the English Civil War in 1/72 Scale Part 5: Some More Figures

2010-04-12T04:54:00.000-07:00

Since I posted my summaries of the figures available for wargaming the ECW in 1/72 scale I have learned of a few more options. So this post is a round up of other mainly metal figures that could be used to create mighty armies of Parliamentarians, Royalists, Covenanters or Scots Royalists.

First up, my Mars Scots Mercenaries of the 30 Years War arrived.

I'm not a fan. It is hard to imagine much use for them, although maybe the musketeers could be used if one were desperate. Chunky mouldings, muskets the caliber of anti-tank guns, horribly engraved tartan breeches… The sculptor doesn’t seem to have understood Highland dress, so there are some really weird arrangements of plaid. Save your money. I have a set of Strelets Jacobites on the way, and I’m hoping to convert them into C17th Highlanders.

More positively, Mr John Cunningham responded to my post and has been a goldmine of information about ranges of metal figures compatible with plastics for the ECW. He very kindly sent me a range of samples of 20mm Hinton Hunt figures that he now holds the moulds for. These are some of the ECW figures, along with plastic figures from Revell and ACTA for size comparisons.

The Hinton Hunt figures are sharply detailed, and would fit in well with most plastics although they are slightly smaller. Unfortunately this is particularly the case with a couple of the standing officer figures, which seem underscale. Mr Cunningham has obtained the moulds for all sorts of old and out of productions ranges of figures in 20mm figures available – everything from Wellington’s Sepoys to some very nice C17th Poles. You can see some of his other figures over on The Plastic Pelisse. He can be contacted at CunnJoh@aol.com

Mr Cunnignham also sent me some examples of ECW figures made by Les Higgins. The bottom row are original Les Higgins figures, the ones above are reissues made by David Clayton in the USA. As you can see from the yellow A Call to Arms and Revell figures these match the size of 1/72 scale plastics well, although the style is much less realistic.

Some other metal ranges worth a look:

Art Miniaturen

I have bought Art Miniaturen Napoleonics and they are superb. They also have a growing range of 30 Years War figures, some of which would work well for the ECW. Check out the figure of the general waving his hat:

http://www.schmaeling.de/assets/s2dmain.html?http://www.schmaeling.de/

Garrison Miniatures

Thanks again to Mr Cunningham for putting me onto these. Garrison have a range of 25mm ECW. I haven’t seen the figures ‘in the flesh’, but judging by the scale in the photos on their website they should mix well with 1/72 scale:

http://www.garrisonminiatures.com/catalogue/index.asp?rName=English+Civil+War&rBrand=25mm%2017th%20Century

Historifigs

http://www.historifigs.com/soldiers_of_the_30_years_war.htm#1%20Scale%20Figures

No idea whether their ‘1 inch’ 30 Years War figures would match up with 1/72 scale, but they might be worth a look.

I think that’s all!

Covenanter Flags 3

2010-04-11T00:18:00.000-07:00

Here are three more Covenanter flags that I have just finished.

First up, a cavalry cornet from Forbes' Regiment of Horse, captured at Dunbar in 1650.

Also captured at Dunbar was this foot ensign. It may have been the colour of Colonel Sir Alexander Sutherland.

...and here's another ensign captured at Preston in 1648. This was the Colonel's colour for Lord Cranston's Regiment of Foot (the Edinburgh Levies).

Projects for 2010

2010-04-04T23:34:00.000-07:00

2010 is shaping up to be a big year for the 16th-17th Centuries. To set myself some goals, here are my projects for the year.

1. Maximilian Imperial Army for DBA-RRR

2. ECW Scottish Royalist Army (Montrose) for DBA-RRR

3. ECW English Royalist Army for DBA-RRR

4. Neapolitan Spanish Army for DBA-RRR

5. Polish Commonwealth Army for DBA-RRR

6. Finish my Achaemenid Persian DBA Army

7. Paint some more Napoleonic Ships for 'Signal Close Action'

Covenanter Flags 2

2010-03-29T01:51:00.000-07:00

Here are three more Covenanter foot ensigns.

First up, a flag captured at Dunbar in 1650. It probably belonged to a Captain Christall from John Forbes of Leslie's regiment.

Next, an ensign captured at Preston in 1648. It may have belonged to a Captain Leslie in Sir Alexander Fraser of Philforth's Firelocks, raised in Aberdeenshire in 1648.

And the third one is a generic Covenanter ensign, using the motto as it appears on a surviving flag in the National Museum of Scotland.

Enjoy.

Work in Progress: Landsknechts!

2010-03-27T23:07:00.000-07:00

My next big project for 2010 is to paint up a Maximilian Imperial army from the early 16th Century for DBA-RRR. All the figures are from Dark Dream Studios, comprising a box of their Landsknecht Dopplesoldners and Arquebusiers, a box of Landsknecht pikemen and a box of Renaissance knights. I've finished the first batch, the Dopplesoldners (double-pay men) whose job it was to hack their way into the enemy pike blocks using their monstrous two handed swords.

The first element completed for the army is the forlorn hope, who were identified by carrying a plain red Blutfahne ('blood banner')

I haven't based the other Dopplesoldners yet. The plan is to base the pikemen on extra- deep bases, and to include these figures ahead of the pikes.

Landsknechts are very tricky to paint, with their layers of slashed clothing revealing different colours. The best book I've found so far to explain how the clothing was actually made is the Osprey Landsknecht Soldier by John Richards, from their Warrior series.

Covenanter Flags 1

2010-03-25T02:53:00.000-07:00

I've been painting a few more ECW flags, and today it's the turn of the Scots Covenanters. All these flags are infantry ensigns.

'Reviresco' means 'I Flourish Again'. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out except for the gold Covenanter motto. I haven't found a solution for writing in gold yet, and any suggestions are welcome. This ensign was carried by a Captain Aikman, who served in Colonel John Lindsay of Edzell's Regiment, raised in Forfarshire in 1650. Alternatively, it may have been a Captain's colour from the Earl of Nithsdale's Regiment of Foot. The flag was captured by Cromwell's troops at the Battle of Dunbar in 1650.

This one was captured at Preston in 1648. It probably belonged to a Catptain Erskine, from Colonel George Keith's regiment, raised in Aberdeenshire in 1648.

This one is probably a Colonel's colour, and possibly from the Master of Caithness' Regiment of Foot. It was also captured at Dunbar in 1650.

Two More Royalist Standards

2010-03-06T16:19:00.000-08:00

Here are two more cornets captured from the Royalists at the Battle of 1st Newbury.

The motto (Dona dei utraque regi) means 'Both gifts of god are for the king'. The two gifts are the crown and the wreath of victory.

The motto means 'Square in every way'. The source for this cornet is a book from 1655 by Thomas Blount, titled The Art of Making Devises'. According to Blount the bearer of this cornet was probably proclaiming his hatred of anything to do with roundheads. Which is a bit naff.

More ECW Flags

2010-03-03T22:28:00.000-08:00

Here are my latest two ECW cavalry cornets. Hope somebody finds them useful.

Parliamentarian, 1642-. Captain Booth of Cheshire. Motto means 'Not without cause'.

Royalist, 1643-14 June 1645 (captured at Naseby). This cornet was probably one of a series used by Sir Horatio Cary and his officers in a regiment of horse raised in the West Country in late 1643. The motto is an insult directed at the Earl of Essex, whose wife was notoriously unfaithful. A similar cornet with red ground was also captured at Naseby.

Wargaming the English Civil War in 1/72 Scale Part 4: Flags

2010-02-27T17:11:00.000-08:00

There were three types of flags used in the English Civil Wars: Ensigns, Cornets and Guidons. All were generically known as ‘colours’. Ensigns were used by foot, cornets by horse and guidons by dragoons.

You can find a great introduction to ECW flags here:

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=uGBG25-u67kC&pg=PR23&lpg=PR23&dq=english+civil+war+flags&source=bl&ots=HbkC5hKVkt&sig=YPqBCSyB44R_qix6Xg1Pucy-wc0&hl=en&ei=baCIS_v_ENGGkAXTpc0C&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CCYQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=english%20civil%20war%20flags&f=false

This gives the full introduction from The English Emblem Tradition Vol. 3: Emblematic Flag Devices of the English Civil Wars 1642-1660 by Alan R. Young, 1995. I own this book and it is great, giving a description and illustration (when known) of every known flag from the English Civil Wars that bears an emblem and slogan of some sort. This does mean however that most of the flags included are cavalry cornets. The book doesn’t include the more generic foot ensigns.

1. Ensigns

Ensigns were carried by each company of foot. They were usually about 2 metres square, so in 1/72 scale should measure about 2.8cm square. They were carried on short poles (around 2.3 metres long) to allow flourishing and twirling. In both Parliamentarian and Royalist armies the ensigns followed a similar design scheme. The ensign belonging to the Colonel was usually plain, the Lieutenant-Colonel’s ensign bore only the cross of St George in the top left corner. The ensigns of the Captains commanding each of the (usually 5) companies usually bore a number of heraldic devices or symbols, the number of which showed the seniority of the Captain. The more senior the Captain, the fewer devices.

This scheme is well illustrated on some free flags for the Earl of Essex’s army available on the Warflag site:

http://www.warflag.com/flags/ecw/ecw.shtml

Some other free ensigns are available here:

http://tmg110.tripod.com/british6.htm

http://www.quindia.com/studioart08.htm

Covenanter, Scots Royalist and Irish Confederate ensigns were a little different. Covenanter ensigns were usually, but by no means always, based on the St Andrew’s saltire, with some variation on the motto ‘Covenant for Religion, Crown and Kingdom’ or similar. In addition, the ensigns often included some heraldic emblem, often denoting the regiment’s colonel.

A few beautiful flags for Scots Royalists, Covenanters and Irish are available on the Project Auldearn blog:

http://auldearn1645.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-08-01T14%3A29%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=7

If you want to buy ensigns for your ECW armies, the only option I am aware of in 1/72 scale is Rofur Flags:

http://www.rofur-flags.de/liste2a/liste2a-engl.htm

Some are also available from Tiny Tin Troops, but I couldn’t work out what scale these are:

http://www.tinytintroops.co.uk/Flags/flags_ECW.htm

2. Cornets

Cornets were much smaller than ensigns, measuring only 60cm square, which is about 0.8cm in 1/72 scale! I usually make them a lot bigger than this, going for the visual appeal over strict accuracy. Cornets were carried on lances between 2.44 metres and 2.74 metres in length. Unlike ensigns, cornets usually had a fringe, and bore a much greater variety of images and slogans. Many included outright propaganda messages. I’m not aware of any free cornets on the internet, or of anyone selling them in 1/72 scale. So I’ve decided to make some, and will put them up on this blog as they become available. Just resize them as you see fit on a colour printer. If anyone uses these I would love to see the finished product. Here are two for starters:

Parliamentarian Cornet belonging to Captain Dobbins of Worcestershire (1642-). Motto means 'While I breathe, I hope.'

Pariamentarian Cornet (1642-). Bearer unknown. Motto means 'Death for me is gain.

3. Guidons

Guidons were carried by dragoons. They were a similar size to cornets, but were distinguished by having a swallow-tail shape. The designs followed a similar scheme to infantry ensigns.

II/19 Scots Covenanter Army for DBA-RRR

2010-02-20T17:21:00.000-08:00

Right - I finished the artillery for my Covenanters (guns and crew from Tumbling Dice). So the army is complete and ready to march on Newcastle. Here are some images of the army arrayed.

Tumbling Dice volley gun.

The manor house in the background was a real find. It is a card model from Metcalfe Models, designed for use with HO/OO railway layouts. It was a joy to put together, everything fitting perfectly. It probably has some anachronistic features as it it supposed to be a renovated C17th manor house still in use in the C20th, but I have pretty much left it as is, just repainting the modern door, and changing the date above the door from 1679 to 1629. I am going to mount this on a base with some sort of garden and enclosing wall, and will also get hold of a great church model made by Metcalfe.

After painting the dour Covenanters I'm desperate for a project involving colour. Swinging to the other extreme, I'm going to make a Maximilian Imperial army, using the Renaissance knights and Landsknechts from Dark Dream Studio.

Covenanter foot complete!

2010-02-13T20:10:00.000-08:00

I have just finished the foot component of my Covenanter army for DBA-RRR. This consists of 5 elements of pike and 5 of muskets, based in my usual unorthodox manner. The figures are nearly all Tumbling Dice, with a couple of SHQ musketeers skulking in the background. The SHQ figures have loads of character, but their muskets look like toys compared to the (overscale) weapons carried by the TD figures. Pikes are all made from trusty broom bristles, and the flags were taken (with great appreciation) from the Project Auldearn blog.

These are just some hasty photos. I have two elements of artillery to go to finish the army, and then I'll post some images of them all in their dour Presbyterian glory.

The Covenanters!

2010-01-25T01:17:00.000-08:00

I've just finished the cavalry for my DBA-RRR Covenanter army. Here's a sight to strike fear into any heart - heavily armed Presbyterians. All figures are 1/72 metal from Tumbling Dice.

First up, the Covenanter general, who is based as a single figure under the DBA-RRR rules.

'After yon Papist!'

Next, three elements of horse, using slightly different basing rules to DBA-RRR to make them consistent with the rest of my ECW figures.

The banner is a simplified attempt at a Covenanter flag captured by Cromwell's troops at Dunbar in 1650. While looking for flags I found this excellent reference.

Finally, an element of lancers. These are converted from Tumbling Dice figures holding muskets, and the helmeted head is from a figure in the A Call To Arms command set. The lances are broom bristles.

Next up - musketeers.

ECW Parliamentary Cavalry

2010-01-16T21:10:00.000-08:00

This is just a quick update with my first figures finished for 2010 - a unit of Parliamentary horse. The riders are from Tumbling Dice (with one from SHQ). The horses are mainly Tumbling Dice, but with a few Revell horses thrown in for variety. I think they match up pretty well.

Now that these chaps are finished I'm concentrating on my first big project for the year - making a Covenanter army for DBA-RRR.