The rest of the 54mm Woodland Indians

This week I finished off the rest of the 54mm Woodland Indians that will provide the AWI British will some support.

These are plastic figures from Armies in Plastic. I basically mirrored the painting I saw on the ATKM's website. The red came out a bit more intense in these photos than in real life.

I decided to use a brown spray primer (in lieu of white) on these fellows to help give them a very different look from the formed troops I have been painting.

Up next: Likely some command troops for the units I have painted.

54mm AWI light troops

I finished six British light troops this week. Good weather drew me outside to ski and skate so I only spent a few hours in front of the painting table.

Nice figures. I think I chose the wrong colour for the top of the plug bayonet (brown or black might have been better). The bases I made a bit courses to reflect that they might well be deployed in tougher terrain.

Up next: Tuesday is club night and then I have more 54mm guys underway, both Indians and British command figures.

A Few Acres of Snow

I dropped by Bruce's place last night for some gaming. He was still sorting the solo mechanics of Fire on the Lake so set out A Few Acres of Snow. We played three times, with the British winning each time. I really like the game (deck building plus map play). When we were first starting out, the games tended to split evenly. As we've gotten better, we've seen the British side become essentially unbeatable.

This is consistent with the history and I know there is an unbeatable British strategy around the Halifax Hammer. But even without using that strategy, the British can just build their way to victory. I've tried a couple of different approaches (including a military one and an isolationist one) and can't seem to get the French even close to winning any more. I haven't tried a raiding-heavy approach yet but I'm losing faith in the game, which is a shame.

Bruce also trotted out his new 15mm command bases for Maurice. The tent above is quite cute. The carriage with princess below is impressive. Both are substantial pieces which he thinks will help players understand why relocating this piece is so costly in game terms.

Up next: I'm working on some more 54mm Britsh (a unit of lights) and the club is Tuesday.

Some Woodland Indian Allies for the British

I continued to whittle away at the large pile of unpainted AWI British I picked up from All the King's Men. These are 54mm plastic figures (from Armies in Plastic) which represent woodland Indians.

I got through half of the bunch I bought this week and will work on the rest later on. These were nice enough figures but, like all hard plastic, they don't have the undercuts that you get in metal figures so you have to paint your over some big areas of excess plastic.

I debated whether to carve off the integral bases in order to put them on the 1.25" square bases I have been using for the rest of the figures. Since the point of uniform bases is to rank them and the Indians wouldn't have fought formed, I decided to was easier to go with the integral bases (which are big enough that the figures are quite stable).

Up next: I'm working on some British lights and i'm off to play a bit more Fire on the Lake with Bruce on Tuesday.

January 6 EWG Club Night

We had 14 guys and six games running last night at the club, which was an awesome turn out given the cold and it being the first week back after the holidays. There were three games of Warmachine underway, which was nice to see. 

Scott and I managed to get in six games of Commands & Colors Ancients. We started with Telamon, which sees a Gaul army (green) trapped between two Roman armies (red). Both games saw swirling cavalry fights on the right to contest the hills. The Gauls in the middle got crunched.

The second game was Clastidium, which pits a force of Roman lights and horse against Gaulish auxilia, lights and warband. Both games saw the Romans win with a mixture of shooting and cavalry charges. Scott's time as Roman commander was particularly devastating as he came around the right flank and wrapped things up in about 12 minutes!

Finally, we played Arausio. This is a straight-up fight. In the first game, the Romans had some lucky cards and moved their battle line up to pound the Germanic tribes. In the second game (below), the Germans advanced, chewed the edges of the Romans and then the Roman centre had some lousy dice and folded up. I think I'm good on CCA for awhile!

Dave hosted Chen and Phil in a 6mm modern game using the epic rules. Russian hordes crossed the border and swarmed a NATO battle group. There were some unlucky moments for NATO!

And finally Bruce hosted a game of Look Sarge, No Charts Napoleonics. Below you can see Bruce's left flank (top of photo) has fallen back to his baseline. I think that pretty much tells the tale.

Up next: I am working on some 54mm Indian Allies. Hopefully they will be done this weekend!

54mm British Regulars

Over the holidays I completed my first unit of British regulars. These are 54mm troops from All the King's Men. Overall, nice models.

I debated for quite awhile whether to seal the vest and trousers and cross belts before washing. This would preserve the "whiteness" of the clothing a bit better than washing directly over the paint (which then stains).

In the end, I decided against sealing first. I may try this with the second unit of regulars I have primed to add to the diversity. These fellows look rather well travelled in their stained outfits. I set aside the officer and standard bearer for later work.

Up next: Club night is Tuesday and I have a game of CCA ready to play. I also primed a bunch of woodland Indians that I will start painting on this week. Then maybe onto some 54mm grenadiers.

54mm AWI American cannon

As promised, the first post of the new year are the remaining 54mm AWI Americans: a siege gun and crew. Apologies for the glare in the photos--the light was funny when I was snapping these.

This is a large siege gun with four crew and two command figures. I haven't yet figured out what to put in the hands of the fellows in the vests.

The models come with buckets and a ramrod for the gun. The ramrod looks good but seems to break off the models more easily that the buckets. So likely buckets with the ramrod laying on the ground?

Up next: I'm working on 54mm British regulars and hope to have them finished this weekend. It is also club night on Tuesday and I have a CCA game ready to go.