Second batch of Orc ships

I finished the second batch of 1/600 orc ships for Uncharted Seas. Again, I was left to my own devices to come up with a colour scheme so I tried to mix up various garish colours.

I am happiest with this ship as I think it looks the most nautical with the white sails and mono-coloured hull. I tried my hand a orc runes but maybe something a bit more Scandinavian would have looked better.

This larger ship looks much better in person than in this shot. For whatever reason, the red has become super-luminous in the photo and all of the depths of the wash is lost. Also, the eye looks off-centre but it is, in fact, dead centre (an angle-thing, I think--the mast is just resting in the hole and has tipped slightly backwards and off to one side). THe owner can glue it if he wants or pack the hole with putty so the mast can come out for transport.

The ship below also looks worse in the picture than in person (arrgh). The lines in the sail look all wonky in the photo, which reflects the angle of the picture as well as the curves of the sail. Looks fine in person.

Up next: I have 20-some Celts that I am finishing the basing on. Then onto some 28mm Imperial Romans and I will start rehab on my trees. Another game of Maurice is set for Tuesday night so there'll be another battle report on it.

First play of Maurice

Bruce hosted me this afternoon in our first play of Sam Mustafa's rules Maurice (the free light version here). We played a generic game (14 units each) with all measures scaled down to fit a 4x4" board. I apologize for the bad pictures--the light was a bit weird today.

Bruce started by advancing against my right flank with horse and foot. I countered, lost a unit of horse and then pulled back one unit of horse to unmask my infantry. A sharp fire fight ensured and he was down 2 units to 1 and switched to make his advance in the centre. That took all of three or four turns and at that point we had the mechanics committed to memory.

As he advanced across the centre I started to clean up the right side, turning some units to help in the centre and moving the rest forward to bag the remains of his advance. His attack up the centre was solid but I managed to get in a first fire and then charged to contact. Some lucky dice aided by good cards and were we both exhausted, having to pause to replenish our hands.

At that point, I was managed to push him over his break point by taking the remaining units from his initial advance. On my left, the units did not move. Overall, I'd say this was the best horse-and-musket set we've played over the past seven years hands down. It felt like we were fighting a battle, with discrete engagements and pauses between as we collected ourselves.

The card mechanic is genius. It forces very hard choices: do you continue to go hard at the other fellow, or do you pause to build up your hand again? Do you move you CnC closer to the action (or the action you want to happen), or do you pay the card penalty for being farther away?

This adds a whole level of command complexity and realistic pacing that other games don't often have, but without any fiddly mechanics. We also managed to play a good-sized game (with dramatic play and lots of tension) and learn the rules in 2.5 hours. Wow. I will definitely be picking up this set when it comes out.

Up next: I have some 28mm Celts I'm moving through basing and a couple of 1/600 fantasy ships. Then some more 28mm Romans and I'll make a start on fixing up my trees.

Uncharted Seas Orc ships

I took an odd-ball commission this week to paint five orc ships for Uncharted Seas. These are 1/600 resin models with metal sails. I recall Neil raving about these ships when they came back from the sculptor but then never got around to seeing any.

I don't recall ever painting ships and certainly not fantasy ones. My instructions were to use my imagination so I decided to paint them one at a time to allow me to get the hang of it and improve each ship. It's not like an orc fleet would be particularly uniform, anyhow.

This blue ship is a frigate (I think--or maybe a cruiser--my memory is shot tonight). I see I need to fix the paint on the backside of the sail. Overall, a lovely model. Little flash, no assembly and great, great detail. I went with a simple two-tone blue scheme, using some layering on the sails and a drybrushing on the hull. I think the cannons are a bit too copper.

I then went on to one of the battleships, using a green scheme and a bit more elaborate work on the sail. I wonder if a bit of yellow in the middle of the sail design might make it pop some? A star or something? Again, great hull detail that drybrushed up nicely. I am going to try multi-colour schemes on the next few ships.

Up next: Well, three more orc ships are better than half-way done. And I also finished the painting on my left-over Celts. These need a wash and some basing. Then onto either some more Romans or Dale's commission (not yet here). I'm off to play some Maurice at Bruce's tomorrow.

January 3 EWG Club Night

We had 14 guys out for the first club night of the year, including the return of newcomer Alan and the reappearance of old new guy (or new old guy?) Neil. I ran a four-player game of Star Trek Fleet Captains, with Chris and Bruce as the blood-thirsty Klingons and Chen and Alan as the peaceable Federation.

The game was a bit slower than a two-player version (and no one had ever played before). I was surprised at how much combat there was right off. While the Federation players eventually won (and did a creditable job of keeping their weak science ship out of the fray to earn victory points through missions), it was fun to see the Klingons get their dander up late in the game and really put a joint pasting on the Enterprise E.

Elliott and Kevin played a game of War Machine that was still going on when I left (hope they swept the floor!). It was very pretty and Elliott had models out that I don't think I have seen before.

Dave hosted Neil, Terry, Andy, Scott, Jonathan and Mark in a game of Hail Caesar. Basically it was a Hastings-like battle in 28mm with a Saxon win. I don't know that I have ever seen a Norman win of this battle with any miniature rules.

Mark has done a nice job of a battle report with more pictures. Looks like we have a bit of red-rover-red-rover calling the Norman horse over going on here.

Up next: I have some 28mm Celts underway with a slight change in how I have been handling the flesh (lots of shirtless guys) and they should be done by the end of the week. I also hope to get a solo game of Star Trek Fleet Captains in against the Borg. And Bruce left me a nice little AWI solo game to try out.

28mm Roman Auxiliaries

I starting to work my way through the remainders of projects to finish off figures I has set aside. First up this year are some 28mm Roman auxiliaries to supplement my Republican Romans.

These fellows represent slightly less well equipped troops--perhaps regional troops or frontier guards. The shields are hand-painted. Not great but I have done far worse! Thanks to Tim in Saskatoon and Joe in Calgary for the inspiration.

These are some extra figures from the Wargames Factory Caesar's Legions box. I mixed-and-matched heads from several other Wargames Factory boxes and also borrowed shields to create a less uniform look. What I really need to complete this army are some generic light troops (slingers, bowmen) from the Wargames Factory Numidian box but that will need to wait until I have cleared off some more older projects.

I also did up a single command base. Most of my Romans commanders are mounted as separate units on square bases for HoTT (where they can be used as a mounted hero or a lurker). I decided to just do these fellows as a straight-up command unit on a round base.

The commander is (I think) an Artizan Designs figure that I got to review back in 2008. The standard bearer and musician are Wargames Factory figures.

Up next: I'll be running a game of Star Trek Fleet Captains at the club tonight for four players. On the painting table, I have a bunch of Celts with the flesh and metal done as well as a bunch of Imperial Romans primered.

Star Trek Fleet Captains

Bruce popped by this afternoon and we pulled out Star Trek Fleet Captains and managed two quick games. I'm running the game tomorrow at the club so appreciated the opportunity to go through the rules quickly.

We split the games between us and each had a nice mix of exploration, combat and Trekish bits (e.g., characters on cards that affect play). Overall, it seemed reasonably balanced to me. The random nature of card-driven games means there will be freakish games but, by and large, I think there are enough ways to win that overall the game is pretty fun.

We had only one game with significant combat (Bruce won the first using science-missions before I could even get to him) and the Klingons managed to put down both the Enterprise A and E for a win (destroying Captain Kirk in the process). Interestingly, after destroying the Enterprise E, Bruce pulled replacements that totaled four small ships--a huge boon for him in terms of options.

About the only negative things I have to say is that the clix are a bit sticky and I've had two ships break. One will be an easy fix and the other will be trickier. We'll see what the guys say tomorrow.

Up next: I have some Roman auxiliaries finished and drying that I will post tomorrow. Then some Star Trek at the club. I also have some 45ish 28mm Celts and Imperial Romans primered and ready to paint. And the resumption of the post should bring me some commission work.

A HoTT New Year's Eve

Dave and I rang out 2011 with a couple of games of HoTT yesterday afternoon. We'd agreed on a medieval theme and each brought armies.

Dave's army included a magician. I'd never had the "pleasure" of facing a competently generaled magician before and it was most painful.

I brought out a mixed army (bow, blade, riders, hero) with a dragon (having never played one before). Dave quickly put me down in game 1. I must play more HoTT this year so I can give him a run for his money. The dragon did not appear in game 1 so the picture above must be from game 2.

Game 2 was also a beat down based on Dave totally pooching my left flank through careful deployment and me rolling a pair of one's for pips that I was never able to recover from. I hate being outplayed! The dragon did show up, though!

Game three was a mess. Again, the damned dragoon watched from the sidelines. I managed to quick kill his magician with my hero and the withstood a couple of bad rounds of general-on-general combat. Eventually my hero behind the lines (bottom picture) managed to block a recoil and I (narrowly) won. Good thing HoTT/DBA allows players to win 1/3rd of the time no matter how badly they play!

Lessons for me include: (1) play more so I'm better at the game, (2) bow stay in the woods except to flank, (3) dragoons are too gimmicky for me (dragon for sale!), (4) I might like to try a paladin and a cleric, and (5) I should have had a lurker or two in my ranks. Given the turmoil of DBA 3.0, I expect I will be playing a lot more HoTT this year.

Up next: A bunch of 28mm figures are on the hop. I have some 28mm Roman auxiliaries underway (mail and flesh done--onto cloth and shields) and a bunch (maybe 20 or 22) Celts are ready to be built today. I always find myself short of bows and skirmishers so that will be their fate. And then some Warlord Imperial Romans. Tomorrow Bruce drops by for Star Trek Fleet Captains.