Wilderness Wars

I popped by Bruce's last night for a second game of GMT's Wilderness War. This game examines the French-Indian War. We played a few more rules correctly and played a five-year game instead of the three-year game we started with.

The game board is nicely done and certainly improves my 18th century geography! This was the set-up for the game.

Here at the end of Lake Champlain sit my best generals. Shirley died early on due to card play (ack!) but Johnson went on to lead the drive on Montreal and Quebec in the last turns.

This is near the end of the game and the mess of generals at the top reflects my drive down the St. Lawrence. You can see (below) Bruce's efforts to come down lake Champlain and he eventually sacked Boston, alas too late to stop the steam roller.

This is a hard game for the French to win. I don't know what they should do and I felt bad for Bruce as his dice also stunk last night (he was such a good sport about this!). I liked this game more than Hannibal and about the same as Washington's War. All told, we played 10 hands of cards in 2.5 hours.

Up next: 15mm AWI light horse will get based today and I will move some 15mm over the mountain men to the prep stage. I'm also got to build some medieval and ancient artillery this evening.

28mm Commanders

I've been working on finishing off two 28mm DBA/HoTT armies (medievals and republican Romans). One item on my to-do list has been some commander figures that could serve as heros, clerics or magicians in HoTT. These are all 28mm metals from Warlord Games.

This fellow would serve as a hero (or hero general) for the Romans. I quite like the haggard look of him.

I'm not sure red was the right colour for his cloak. I have been trying to paint more vibrantly but maybe purple with pinkish highlights would have been better.

This fellow could be a magician, cleric or (in a Roman civil war) a sneaker.

This fellow will be a cleric or magician in the medieval army.

Up next: I have some 15mm AWI light horse that just need basing. I also have a Thracian mob in the works. Then some more 15mm AWI (mountain men?) and perhaps some 28mm artillery.

28mm Roman Camp

This summer I got inspired to try my hand at a diorama, putting together Roman and Celtic camps for my 28mm DBA/HoTT armies. The Roman camp looked unfinished and the consensus was it needed to be populated. A trade gave me some 28mm Warlord legionnaires and I bought some nice decals off the web. A bit of swearing later, voila.

About the only major issue I see here is that I put one of the shields on upside down (arrgh).

And then there is the fact that I have an imperial Roman camp for my republican Roman army.

It was interesting to build the Warlord imperial Romans--I think these were the first 28mm historical plastics to come out (about three years ago). They are a bit clumsy to assemble and have limited posability. Yet they are still pretty nice figures.

Up next: Some 15mm AWI horse have been primered and a 15mm Thracian DBA army has been built (those Xsyton armies are nice but fiddly). I also have three 28mm characters about to roll of the workbench to flesh out my HoTT/DBA medieval and Roman armies. Just need to finish up some siege engines.

15mm Alamanni army

I just finished part of a large commission. The biggest single piece was a DBA army (II/72b: Alamanni 250-506AD) so I thought I would start here. These are 15mm Essex Miniatures and the army incudes 1x3Cv or 4Wb (Gen). 7x4Wb, 3x3Bw, and 1x2Ps.

This is a bit of a hordeish army with lots of warband. Despite the age of Essex's sculpts, you can get a fairly good result with them (click on the picture to zoom)!

There are eight 4Wb bases, including the optional foot general (far left, more heavily armoured). With no real painting instructions, I decided to make these fellows more of an early Alamanni army with bright Germanic clothing. Some of the others I've seen on line tend towards more "dark age drab".

There are also three units of 3Bw. A bit more pose variety would be nice but dang can I ever production line mono-pose armies!

There is also one 2Ps element.

Finally, there is a 3Cv general element. I think the general figure is one of Essex's weaker poses but he looks alright. I couldn't see a way to get a standard on this base without major surgery on one of the riders. I thought about it but there is just too much stuff piled up.

Up next: Some 15mm AWI are being prepped as is a 15mm Xyston army. I have a small number of 28mm medieval and ancient figures about to get dipped and based. And I'm hoping I can play another game of Wilderness War this weekend. And my daughter brought home a Lego set where your build Hogwarts and then it functions as a game. Not bad despite some ESL rules.

EWG Club Night

It was club night last night and there about 15 guys out. My camera batteries died so I have few pictures. There was a good Warmachine crowd and they were still at it when I left.

I think there were six guys playing DBA.

And there were three guys playing CCA. This apparently pleased the hell out of Scott.

I played a game of Wilderness Ward is Bruce--our first time through the game and it was fun. No picture so I pinched this off the web.

Up next: A 15mm DBA army is almost done and the some more 15mm AWI. Plus maybe a few 28mm ancients.

1066: Harold’s Demise

Last night was the first year of the EDBAG DBA campaign based on the Norman invasion of England. The campaign map looked like this (dots are capital cities).

Red - Scottish Isles - Dave
Light Green - Norse Irish - Mark
Yellow - Pre-Feudal Scots - Terry
Dark Green - Vikings - Bob
White - Vikings - Jonathan
Pink - Anglo Danes - Bruce
Orange - Normans - Chen-Song
Dark Blue - Normans - Barry

With Jonathan away, we determined he would hole up in his capital and withstand sieges for this year. We then began by declaring war simultaneously. The end result was:

Scottish Isles at war with Norse Irish
Norse Irish at war with Scottish Iles and green Vikings
Pre-Feudal Scots at war with white Vikings
Green Vikings at war with white Vikings, Norse Irish and orange Normans
White Vikings at war with green Vikings, blue Normans and Pre-feudal Scots
Anglo Danes at war with blue Normans and orange Normans
Orange Normans at war with blue Normans, green Vikings and Anglo Danes
Blue Normans at war with Anglo Danes, white Vikings and orange Normans

Armies were then placed:

Scottish Isles at Isle of Islay
Norse Irish at Dublin
Pre-Feudal Scots at Perth
Green Vikings at Chester
White Vikings at Oslo (inactive)
Anglo Danes at London
Orange Normans at Hastings
Blue Normans at Rouen

Varying the DBA campaign mechanic slightly, all moved were recorded in secret and reveal simultaneously. Turn 1 saw the Anglo-Danes, Pre-feudal Scots and Norse Irish elect to defend the realm (as per the HoTT rules).

In the north, the Scottish Isles crossed the sea to fight the Norse Irish in Dublin while the green Vikings moved to Waterford and besieged it. The green Vikings also sent a contingent north to assist the Scottish Islanders.

After a dual littoral landing cause quite a mix-up right by the Norse Irish camp, the green Vikings arrived, sacked the camp and knocked off two Norse-Irish psiloi to end the game. The green Vikings also liberated Waterford and the Norse Irish fell back on their capital in Limerick.

In the south, the blue Normans besieged Caen unsuccessfully. Meanwhile, the orange Normans wailed into London and beat the Anglo-Danes in bloody battle. The Anglo-Danes fell back to Winchester to defend their capital with London flying an orange flag!

Turn two saw a rematch between the bloodied Anglo-Dane and orange Norman armies in Winchester, with the Anglo-Danes falling before the orange Normans and becoming a vassal state. But this victory would prove costly for the orange Normans later. Again, there was no love for the blue Normans as their siege of Caen continued to be unsuccessful.

In the north, the Pre-feudal Scots landed at Trondheim but were unsuccessful in their siege. In the west, the green Vikings (with a contingent of Scottish Islanders) attacked the Norse Irish capital, turning the Norse Irish into vassals.

The fall continued to be dramatic. The Pre-feudal Scots and blue-Normans were again unsuccessful in their sieges. The orange Normans rushed back to Hastings to find the green Vikings landing. The Normans summoned their Anglo-Dane vassals while the Vikings invited help from the Norse-Irish, Scottish Islanders and blue Normans (yes, four allied contingents eventually arrived—what a mess!).

Although the eventual contest was closely fought, the weight of the Vikings (11 units plus nine allied units) eventually bested the six Norman units and three allied units and Hastings was green. The map now looks like this:

At the end of the autumn, the dispositions were (and I stand to be corrected as Viking ruins are not necessarily definitive):

Scottish Isles at Dublin, 0 prestige, 10 stands left.
Norse Irish at Limerick, 0 prestige, 4 stands left, vassal of the green Vikings until twice more defeated.
Pre-Feudal Scots at Trondheim, 0 prestige, 10 stands left, must return across the waters for winter (dice roll required).
Green Vikings at Hastings, 8 prestige, 8 stands left
White Vikings at Oslo (inactive), 0 prestige, 12 stands left.
Anglo Danes at Winchester, 0 prestige, 4 stands left, vassal of orange Normans until once more defeated.
Orange Normans at London, 1 prestige, 3 stands remaining
Blue Normans at Rouen, 0 prestige, 9 stands remaining

Before the next meeting, each army must replenish its troops (one for each city plus two for your capital to a maximum of 12) and the Pre-feudal Scots must roll to return across the water for winter. The white Vikings were inactive so are limited to a 10-stand army for 1067.

15mm DBA Aitolians

I completed and posted out a new DBA army tonight. These were an Aitolian Hoplite army (II/5e) by Xyston.

Overall, nice figures marred only by the extra work that making spears and cutting open hands entails.

The army includes seven 2Ps elements, giving it a real rough going dimension.

There were quite a number of starkers in this army.

There are also four bases of 4Sp, including the general stand on the right.

There is also one base of 2LH giving a bit of mobility.

Up next: Some 28mm characters for my Roman and medieval DBA/HoTT armies are queued up. Plus some commissions once the figures arrive. Should be quite for the next five days and work picks up, though.

September 7 Club Night

It was the first club night of autumn and we had nine guys out. Elliot and Kevin played a game of Warmachine (or Hordes--I dunno) but I neglected to take a picture of it. I did grab a couple of shots of Dave C and Scott giving WHFB 8th Ed a go.

There was much complaining up Scott's amazing die rolls but I think his tomb kings lost in the end anyhow. Damn, GW figures give me the giggles--what a fantastically ridiculous tank this is. I have one in 10mm and even at that scale it was a hoot.

Bruce, Barry, Andy, Chen and I played two games of Shadows Over Camelot. I've become quite taken with cooperative games this summer after spending an enjoyable evening playing Pandemic and then much of the past two weeks playing Forbidden Island with my daughter.

Overall, a good night, including some hilarious mutual accusation ("No, you're the traitor!") when indeed there was no traitor in any of the games! What a tough game to beat even with some (I think) experienced gamers around the table. If there had been a traitor, we would have been hosed.

Up next: A 15mm Aitolian DBA army is drying and I will post pictures tomorrow before shipping. I have a few 28mm figures primered and I'm awaiting two big commissions to be delivered. The next report will probably be of the DBA campaign that starts next Tuesday.

15mm Littoral Terrain

With a DBA campaign coming up in just over a week, I needed to finish off the littoral terrain my vikings need.

I started with a 30x30cm piece of vinyl floor tile (what else) which I cut in half, giving me 60cm of littoral terrain (enough to cover one side of a DBA board). I then took some crumpled up tin foil and pushed it down on the sticky side of the terrain and gave it a greenish wash (ivy green plus future floor polish).

A couple of washes (blue, brown/black) later as well as some sand added for the beach and we're almost done.

Here we have grass and bush added to complete the piece and match it to my GW terrain mat.

Better lighting shows off the colours a bit better.

Overall, a cheap and durable way to make littoral terrain.

Up next: A 15mm Aitolian DBA army is coming off the painting table and has already sold! Also I'm running a game of Shadows over Camelot tomorrow night at the club. After that, I expect the autumn will be occupied with commission painting.

15mm Late Roman DBA army FS

SOLD!
I have for sale a painted all-options 15mm Late Roman DBA army (II/78a). The figures are all Essex (I believe) and they come from a smoke- and pet-free home if that is important to you. The army comprises 14 bases (30 foot, 1 war machine, and 14 mounted).

The core of the army are three bases of 4Bd. The shields all match but the clothing is a bit of a hodge-podge.

The blades are supported by three bases of 4Ax.

Again matchy-matchy shields and mixed clothing.

There are two bases of 2LH comprising a bunch of mixed local riders with bows.

There is one warmachine. These are the only figures I'm not sure are Essex. They just look a bit too tall for Essex.

There are also two bases of Ps, again fellows with bows recruited locally to flesh out the rank.

Finally, there are three bases of cavalry, including one 4Kn, one 3CV (general) and one 3Cv.

I'd like $65 (includes shipping in Canada or to the US) for this army. I will bubble wrap each base and float in a box of peanuts. Offers to bob.barnetson@shaw.ca .