Phew! That's a relief!

I was getting a little worried that the WW2 British Paras I'd painted up for Dux had gone missing somewhere between the UK and Australia, but I've just seen that they've arrived safe and sound with him. They actually arrived at a very good time as he was feeling miserable with a nasty head cold and opening the package cheered him up.

Strangely enough, I woke up this morning to a miserable head cold as well. Hopefully it won't affect my generalship tonight - my Swiss have their final outing in the club medievals tournament against Gordon and his "Herman's Dad, Santa" army. I think I'll run a modification of the list I used against Ian last week, ditching the handgunners and fortified camp in favour of more crossbowmen. Before you ask, I have packed my camera and hopefully will remember to use it to take copious pictures of the game.

I still haven't made any progress on the camp/ambush pieces. However, the artillery and cuirassiers are assembled and glued onto sticks to await primer. I'll do that once I've prepped the "Croats".

Some Old Citadel Miniatures

I haven't done any painting this evening. After my post last night I got stuck into prepping the next batch of figures for painting. So far I've prepped 2 artillery pieces plus crews and bits; 24 horses for the cuirassiers and have started prepping the cuirassiers themselves. I'll also be prepping the 24 "Croat" light horse.

Anyway, onto the subject of this post.

Back at Salute in April, one of the bloggers at the meet-up mentioned that he was trying to get hold of Citadel dark elves from the 1980s. I said I thought I had some back at my Dad's house and would try to dig them out. Well, when I was down for my sister's birthday the other week I looked through the box and found them. I also dug out some orcs, a hobgoblin (I think), 2 ogres and some human characters.

The main problem is....

....I can't remember who the blogger was. If it was you, or you see this and know who it was, please let me know. And if anyone wants the orcs, hobgoblin and ogres please let me know. The humans I'll keep for myself for fun character painting as a break from my normal stuff.

Here are some pics of the figures. Some of them had been primed with white enamel back in the 80s, so I've been doing my best to get it all off - there's still a bit left on the figures, but not enough to obscure any details.

I' pretty sure the three shiny ones were dark elves, but could be wrong (the "slotta" says ELF)

Samurai, berserker, street thug and buccaneer - I should have fun painting these up

Two ugly bu***rs, errmm, incredibly handsome Ogres. 

Orcs and the suspected hobgoblin (on the right).

WIP: 30YW Extra Dragoons and Camp Bits #2 (Finished); WIP: 30YW More Camp Bits

I managed to get a bit more done last night after posting - the figures all got their Klear/ink coat and when that was dry they were popped off the sticks and based up. This morning I dry-brushed the basing gunk, sprayed with matt varnish then tufted and flocked the bases.

Here are pics of the finished bases:

I might go back and pick out some of the "flowers" with brighter coloured paints at some point.

Yay! The wagons I finished painting up weeks ago finally get based up!

Grouped together as a camp for FoG:R

WIP: 30YW More Camp Bits

This afternoon and evening I've been making good progress on the rest of the camp bits and the livestock which can also be used as ambush markers. The animals are finished in terms of painting; the religious group need a little bit of detailing; the supplies and camp followers are only just started.

Chickens, goats, sheep and piggies

Obviously not for use with protestant armies

I was thinking that perhaps the herdsmen could be painted up as a group of C17th hikers, but I'll probably just go with putting them on the bases with their livestock.

I'll probably be able to get the painting finished tomorrow night, then the basing on Tuesday night. I think that means I'll have to start prepping some more figures to add to the painting queue sooner than I'd thought.

WIP: 30YW Extra Dragoons and Camp Bits

Well, with not being able to go to Derby/Donnington this weekend I was free to do a bit of painting. My concentration hasn't been brilliant from being ill, but I did get a decent amount done. The painting is finished, I'll do the Klear/ink coat later tonight then tomorrow I'll do the basing, matt spray varnish and flocking & tufting if all goes well.


Camp Bits:

The very Camp Marshall

 Dragoons:

What's next?

I guess the next bits for me to paint up will be the rest of the camp bits and the ambush markers (which can also be used as camp bits). After that it will be the extra pikemen and musketeers for upgrading the three 6-base foot regiments to 9 bases. And then I'll have to do a load more figure prep - 2 more artillery pieces, 2 more cuirassier regiments and then 3 units of "Croat" light horse.

Not going to Derby/Donnington *sob*

Life has decided to kick me in the teeth. I was feeling fine this morning when I left for work and was really looking forward to the tournament this weekend. However, about 15 minutes after leaving home my guts started to rebel. As I was closer to home than work, I turned about and headed back. Just as well as I've been ill all day. I had decided to give it a few hours to see if it would clear up, but it hasn't. Therefore no tournament for me. Grrr! That means I'm about £100 out of pocket (tournament fee, hotel) and won't get to meet up with various bloggers - sorry guys. And sorry to my team mates for letting them down.

On the bright side, I might actually get some painting done.

Swiss Tour of Spain: First Leg vs Crown of Aragon

As expected, they got beaten. However, the drubbing was not as bad as the one they got against Mike's Hungarians.

My army list was about right. The only change I might want to make is to drop the fortified camp and 4 handgunners, and replace them with two 4s of crossbowmen. My main problem was how I deployed the pikes and idiotically deciding to move them forward from a good defensive position. The 8 of pikes on my right wing was also too far forward to be of much use and vulnerable to being isolated.

IC & 2 x TC
2 x 12 pike
2 x 8 pike
1 x 4 halberds
1 x 6 halberds
2 x 4 crossbows
1 x 4 handgunners
fortified camp

It didn't help that 9 of Ian's 12 battle groups were skirmishers who had better armour than mine.

Anyway, I did remember my camera and did remember to take pics, so here are a selection:

Beginning of turn 3. To explain the terrain: the black circle is impassable terrain, with two steep hills above it; in the centre of my half is an area of brushy ground with another steep hill in line with it. Just about visible in the shadow of Ian's elbow is an area of marshy ground.

If I had demonstrated any common sense I wouldn't have moved my troops from their positions at this point.

As you can see, common sense largely went out of the window, although was present when I withdrew my skirmishers. What on earth was I thinking of, sending an 8 of pikes on its own towards an 8 of offensive spear?

The right wing pikes square up to face the offensive spear.  Beyond the steep hill, Ian's 3 battle groups of light horse  make their way steadily into a very threatening position.

Oooh 5 shots vs 2 and good positioning for charges by my skirmishers against Ian's. If only I had another unit to block them from evading....

A couple of turns later, Ian's 6 skirmishers decided to stand when my two crossbow units charged him. This scrap was to last several turns.

Just a second, weren't there some pikes and a general in front of those offensive spears? In the previous turn Ian had killed my general, then managed to score 8 hits in the next melee. I'd already been dropped to 5 bases, so really needed to roll 3 or more to survive. Guess what? I rolled a 2, taking me to 3 bases which meant they suffered an autobreak.

Looking decidedly dodgy for those 4 halberdiers, who've been disrupted by shooting from the archers in front of them.

Looking even dodgier - menaced by offensive spear on their left flank, being shot to crap from the front and right and threatened by light horse on their right flank.

And they're gone, broken by shooting. Two BGs down - thankfully this was the last turn of the game

Positions at the end of the game - in the previous turn Ian's Impact medium foot had charged my other 8 of pike. For the last turn, the melee was at evens so I put my IC into the front rank and then rolled 2 hits and two 3s - grrr, no rerolls. Ian scored 3 hits but failed to kill my general. Phew.

Final score:
Ian - 14.4
Me - 5.6


No posts till Sunday

My bags are pretty much packed and I'll be going straight from work to the tapas bar to meet up with the rest of the group going to Derby tomorrow, so will be incommunicado blogging-wise until I get back on Sunday evening.

I did get in a bit of a panic while I was packing - I couldn't find my bag of terrain shapes. It turned out there was a very good reason for that - I'd transferred them into a box file. Panic over.

Wish my Early Alans luck!

Calling All the Heroes - Paint The City Pink

Time for a bit of pimping in a very good cause.

Hendybadger over at Tales of a Tabletop Skirmisher blog is involved in running a comp to raise money for Breast Cancer awareness - read more about it here: http://pressganger.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/paint-city-pink-breast-cancer-awareness.html


There are lots of great prizes up for grabs - all you need to do is paint up a Pulp City character (or other superhero/villain) in a pink theme and send it in.

The trouble is that there are currently more prizes than known entrants, so he's asked for people to get the word out via blogs, forums, Facebook etc.


On The Painting Front

Not much progress. I have almost finished the horses (just the tack to do); the dragoons have had flesh, jackets and muskets painted; the farrier has had flesh, shirt and apron painted; his assistant has had flesh and breeches painted; the artillery supplies have had metal dry-brushed and the base colour for the wood done. The very Camp Marshall has had his face painted and is sporting a lovely pink jacket over orange breeches, with a yellow belt and deep red sash.

The main reason I haven't done much painting is that work has been incredibly hectic the past few days and I didn't feel like painting when I got home yesterday. I have done a little bit this evening, but not as much as I'd have liked as I needed to rethink my Swiss list ahead of my game against Ian tomorrow night. I won't be able to get any more painting done until Sunday as tomorrow night will see me getting my bags packed for the Derby Worlds - most of the folks from our club who are going are heading up on Friday after a quick repast of tapas in Camden.