Tribal and Imperial Settlers

It has been a busy few weeks so I have gotten a bit behind in blogging. Two weeks ago, Bruce hosted me in another game of musketeers using the Tribal rules.

There was a hidden character that the cardinal had to find and rescue while the musketeers tried to prevent the rescue.

On the right side of the board, I finally got the hang of using shooters to immobilize while swordsmen close in to do some damage.

The left side was a bit of a bad match up for the cardinal's forces and, at this point, I figured the game was in the bag.

Then the cardinal appeared and greased three units in short order. Jerk.

At that point, the cardinal had found the figure to be rescued and I didn't have enough troops left to do anything about it. A great skirmish game because we actually had to fight each battle with cards (instead of just pushing the figures together and rolling dice). Gonna try to graft this system onto some superheroes.

This week, I was at the club and hosted a game of Imperial settlers for Andy, Scott, and Terry.

Despite Terry's baleful gaze, I think we had a good time. There are a lot of decisions to make each turn and minimal interaction between players. I was leery of four people meaning a lot of sitting but we managed to learn and play the game in 2 hours.

The Egyptians won. Scott played well and it is a good faction. Terry played the Japanese (which were interesting and different).

Andy and I soldiered on with the Roman and Barbarians. I was way behind but was trying for a long-game win. Alas, Scott just had too much of a lead by the end of the game.

Up next: I am half way through rebasing the 1812 British that I have after a trip to the washer store.

En Garde and Tribal

I dropped in on Bruce for gaming on Tuesday. We played another pair of skirmish games, pitting Osprey's En Garde against Tribal.

Bruce hauled out some 28mm musketeers for the evening. Both games were "get the Queen across the board" scenarios.

En Garde (basically Rohan) was fun but deadly. There are some interesting planning mechanisms (selected number of attack and defence moves) but the rules are such that the specific moves one uses in combat are almost always the same.

In the end, the musketeers managed to get enough double teams to grind the cardinal's goons to dust.

We then played the same scenario with Tribal (but with a better grasp of the combat mechanics). The game was much more fun, with each round of combat being a mini card game.

The result was a victory for the cardinal's troops. I was so engrossed I the game that I forgot to take pictures. The different is the decisions required by the mechanics in Tribal are way more interesting than in En Garde.

The one down side is that the table get cluttered with cards. That could be reduced by using smaller cards. It is also really at two person game (four players would yield a lot of sitting and waiting while melees were resolved. Both were good games but Tribal was the winner.

Swashbuckler

We had a record 23 guys out at the club last night. I played a game of Swashbuckler that Bruce hosted on his fancy new terrain.

There was also a game of Zombiecide with maybe seven guys in it.

And there were five games of Warmachine underway.

Swashbuckler turned out to be a hoot. There was a search for the Queen's gem with four players controlling a total of eight characters. Cue swinging from chandeliers, throwing of chairs and beer mug and daggers and general mayhem. Below you can see poor Andy being the subject of a double-take out by my swordsman. Bruce's terrain was awesome and the game came down to a narrowly won rush to the door with the gemstones.

Up next: Some more 15mm WW2 is rolling off the production line.

15mm three musketeers

Bruce hosted a game of Chaos in Carpathia last night using a Three Musketeers theme. I've never played Chaos in Carpathia but really enjoyed it. We used an old floor plan from a Musketeers game that Bruce blew up and some new 15mm Blue Moon figures he painted.

Bruce played the dastardly forces of Richelieu and I played the Musketeers and we were searching the two-story building for evidence of the queen's relations with the Duke of Somebodyorother. Hame 1 was a tie as we both worked out how to play and I could not, for the life of (as it turned out) open a locked door. Good lord! Lots of good defensive rolls, but no one any luck on the attack and generlaly we bumbled about. But we had a good time.

In game two I swapped a musketeer for some henchmen and Bruce swapped out something for the Cardinal himself and we both had better plans. Oh, and I managed to open a bloody door! This was a much better game, with Bruce playing the Cardinal for all he was worth, until the Cardinal ran out of special abilities and my gang of goons ran after him and sliced up his robe (although he eventually escaped).

We also had a good firefight followed by charge between bands of henchmen in the main hall. This was very dramatic in a movie-kind of way and was fun to fight. I managed to squeak out a win in the end through some good dice rolling. I'd certainly play this again.

Up next: Still basing some 15mm cavalry and working on a house. Then I need to build some more 15mm horse and look at whatever else needs attention in my diminishing stock of figures.

FS two painted 28mm renaissance armies

SOLD!

A couple of years ago, I got quite excited about renaissance armies and painted up two. My interests have changed and I'd like to free up some shelf space for a new North America project. I'm asking $100 plus shipping for each for these armies (about $20 each in Canada or the US; around $45 to EU or Australia) but, if you take both, I'll cover the shipping in Canada or the US. All frontages are 60mm (originally for HoTT or DBR) and they come from a smoke- and pet-free home.

First up is a German army from the earlier part of the renaissance. There are four bases of mounted fellows in plate (all very fancy--you can click on the picture for a larger view). There are also two knights mounted solo (heros in HoTT) and a clergyman.

There are three bases of pike along with a general base. Note that the flag symbol is only painted on one side (the other side is blue/black).

There are three bases of crossbowmen.

And there bases of gun-equipped troops.

All in, the first army comprises 17 bases, with 40 foot and 10 mounted troops. A mix of Perry, GW and one Warlord figure (I think). About 40 APs if you are playing HoTT.

The second army is a slightly later and more flamboyant army that I really enjoyed painting. It includes a hero and an artillery piece.

There are three bases of mounted hangunners.

There are three bases of gunners, one of which is the general element (flag painted both sides).

Then there are a whole slew of fellows (11 bases total) with various stick-based weapons (spears, halberds, etc).

I wanted to include a close-up of the fellows with the spears. The base below is a close-up of one of the bases from the groups above designed to illustrate the painting and colours I used.

All told, there are 19 bases, with 56 foot figures, 7 mounted and one artillery piece. This comes to about  41 AP if you are playing HoTT.

Offers to bob.barnetson@shaw.ca. All will be shipped bubble-wrapped and floated in peanuts.

More 28mm renaissance

With nice weather, it has been hard to sit down to paint these past few weeks. But I'm getting a second wind and today managed to finish up some 28mm renaissance figures for my growing (and soon to be for sale) HoTT armies.

These are GW empire figures (with a bit of other stuff mixed in) so they are a tad on the beefy side. After doing a more uniform group, I decided to be a bit more random with these guys, trying for a mercenary or levy look.

The four bases are all blades (or maybe spears, depending on what you want to play them as) and are mounted on 60mm frontages. I think there may be a swordsman hidden in there somewhere.

It was nice to clear these fellows off the painting table. I still have another 30 or so spearmen to go before that box is empty. But they can wait a few weeks until a rainy day gives me a chance to assemble them.

Up next: I have 112 10mm AWI Americans on the table, with the flesh and white done. These are a commission and I started with the more formed New York troops (so blue jackets and red trim). I'm hopeful I will get these fellows finished by next week (work will be hectic this week). Then onto some 10mm Pennsylvania troops. I may also do a few LotR figures in between that I picked up at the MayDay auction last weekend.

28mm renaissance musketeers

I finished nine 28mm renaissance figures this weekend. These are older GW empire troops I got at a swap meet a year or so ago. I did two bases of musketeers and one command stand. 

I've tended to paint the renaissance figures in a mix of colours so I chose a theme for these fellows, thinking they might make a useful troop in quasi-livery. These are on 60mm frontages for HoTT.

I also put together about another 20 renaissance fellows I found (more GW empire) and have those primed. I will putter away at those over the next few weeks, although I find the good weather, my garden and my bicycle to be highly distracting!

Up next: A game of Memoir 44 using Star Wars with Bruce on Tuesday. Then perhaps more renaissance fellows--we'll see what looks interesting. I'm getting down to the bottom of my paint pile so my selection is getting thin. I may pick up a few fellows at the MayDay silent auction, though.

More 28mm renaissance

I finally managed to work my way through five bases of 28mm renaissance halberders . These are GW Empire troops that I got in a job lot. For some reason I only took pictures of four of the bases. Oh well!

I was happier with how these guys turned out than the last batch of renaissance. I spent more time varying the colours and patterns, although there are a lot of stripes (nature of the sculpts).

I think GW did a very nice job putting character into these faces. As a job lot of bits, there was a lot of mix-and-matching here. Not sure where the pirate head came from--perhaps it is standard GW issue?

I have a couple more boxes of renaissance foot to work my way through. I will likely do them up in a more uniform manner as if they were the troops of a particular noble or city.

Up next: I have a bunch of 28mm Malifaux that I am working through and quite enjoying. I hope to have the hill-billy goblins done by this weekend and then onto the second group.

More renaissance plus war pig in progress

It was been a slow week gaming-wise, with some distractions at work and in the garden. I've also been prepping a War of 1812 game of Maurice. But I have been putting in a few minutes a day at the painting table.

While there are a couple of dozen more renaissance figures in various stages of painting, these four swordsmen were ready to base so I finished them to show some progress!

These are GW empire figures I got in a job lot. Nice enough figures with no particular historical paint scheme beyond "really festive".

I've also been working on a Malifaux commission. I have built some hill-billy goblins and am just starting the painting. Last night I told my wife I would "be there in a minute, I'm dry brushing some pig flesh while trying to avoid the dynamite" so I thought I would show WIP. Nothing special--just have the basic flesh colour blocked in but the sculpt is hilarious.

Up next: More renaissance and hill-billy goblins plus a game of Maurice at the club (Battle of Chrysler's Farm).

Barfy 28mm renaissance

I've got two groups of 28mm renaissance figures on the go. I have some pike and sword fellows underway and they are turning out great. And then I have these 28mm archers which turned out terribly. I like to think I'm a pretty decent painter. But I guess I'm allowed to have an off day.

These are old GW sculpts (perhaps from the BattleMasters game). And then I appear to have chosen a terrible colour palette. And then executed it poorly. No idea what happened here. Oh, and I see I forgot to paint the jewel in the middle of their damned foreheads. I expect I will bin these guys shortly.

Up next: Some delightful and newer GW empire sculpts which are turning our just fine, thank you. After that I will finish off some 1/72 AWI dragoons.